St. Luke's Community Education Center dedicated at Cetronia Ambulance Corps

Today, the new St. Luke’s Community Education Center at Cetronia Ambulance Corps was unveiled in a dedication ceremony with administrators, first responders and physicians.

“We are very honored to be able to support EMS education in the community,” said Beverly Snyder, MHA, RN, VP, Patient Care Services, St. Luke’s Allentown Campus. “Well-trained EMS providers deliver excellent emergency care in the field and work as our health care partners to best serve the emergent health needs of our community. As an accredited chest pain and stroke center, we know that quick and expert care by first responders is critical to good patient outcomes,” Snyder continued.

"The demand for community based education programs continues to grow; in order to meet the needs of our community we realized we needed to expand our education and outreach programs.  Our new state-of-art education center is used nearly every day to do just that.  The programs we offer, and partnerships we have such as with St Luke's, allows us to achieve our life-saving mission,” said Larry Wiersch, CEO of Cetronia Ambulance Corps.

Snyder agreed. “There is no doubt in my mind that the St. Luke’s Community Education Center will become a resource for life-saving knowledge, skill-honing and sharing of vital information that will make our community stronger, healthier and safer,” she said.

According to Wiersch, the new center is a resource for EMS professionals and the community. In fact, Snyder announced that St. Luke’s will use the center to offer a free lecture series focusing on health and wellness to help residents take strides to improve their own health and that of their families.

Wiersch added, “As part of its non-profit, community based mission, Cetronia Ambulance Corps is dedicated to the ongoing education of its employees, volunteers, partners in public health and safety and the communities it is entrusted to serve.  Cetronia's Education Department is committed to developing and offering dynamic regional educational programs to ensure that its CAAS accredited national standard of clinical excellence is maintained, as well as fostering an environment that is welcoming to youth members; the community’s future EMS providers.”

The St. Luke's Community Education Center has the capacity to hold nearly 100 people in a classroom setting, or can be divided into three separate rooms for classes of a smaller size. Cetronia Ambulance Corps routinely holds CPR/AED, First Aid courses in the center each week, as well as regular continuing education programs for its EMS personnel. Cetronia also utilizes the center for its Emergency Medical Responder, Emergency Medical Technician and Car Seat Technician courses.  Additionally, the center has been used by many community groups, rotary clubs, Chamber of Commerce luncheons, senior groups, police, fire and emergency management agencies, the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board, numerous high school clubs and groups for multiple school districts, the Emerging Health Professional program through Penn State Lehigh Valley, many different Lehigh County departments and many different boy/girl scout troops.

About Cetronia Ambulance Corps

Cetronia Ambulance Corps, founded in 1955, is a non-profit, 501(c)3 community-based emergency medical services provider prominently located in the Lehigh Valley. Cetronia Ambulance Corps is one of the largest providers of ambulance and medical transportation services in Eastern Pennsylvania; employing 140 full and part time career associates, and 25 active volunteers. The Corps maintains a fleet of 41 vehicles consisting of 19 ambulances, 18 para-transit vehicles, a quick response supervisor’s vehicle, four medi-cars and a special operations unit. Cetronia provides basic and advanced life support ambulance, para-transit, wheelchair, stretcher van, educational, medical alarm, dispatch and medical billing services to meet the communities’ emergency medical service, medical transportation and population health needs in collaboration with other local healthcare agencies.

About St. Luke’s University Health Network

St. Luke’s is comprised of six hospitals, including St. Luke’s University Hospital – Bethlehem, St. Luke’s Allentown Campus, St. Luke’s Anderson Campus (Bethlehem Township), St. Luke’s Miners Campus (Coaldale), St. Luke’s Quakertown Campus, all in Pennsylvania, and St. Luke’s Warren Campus in Phillipsburg, NJ. St. Luke’s Hospital-Monroe Campus will be the seventh hospital in St. Luke’s University Health Network and will be located in Bartonsville, PA.

St. Luke’s University Health Network is a nonprofit, regional, fully integrated, nationally recognized Network providing services at more than 200 sites in Lehigh, Northampton, Carbon, Schuylkill, Bucks, Montgomery, Berks and Monroe counties in Pennsylvania and also in Warren County, New Jersey.

Source: www.sluhn.org.