CREEDE—Recently, nine EMT students from both Creede and South Fork completed three-weeks of classroom training in intravenous (IV) therapy. The class was administered by Trinidad State Junior College and taught by Mineral County EMT Don Dustin with assistance from several other Mineral County EMTs who acted as preceptors.
The IV course is additional training that most ambulance services in Colorado require of their EMTs and is follow-up training for the five-month course of instruction that all new EMTs must take in order to become both nationally and state certified.
The ability to initiate and maintain an IV line is an essential skill for EMTs so that they can ensure adequate hydration and administer medications to both sick and injured patients. After developing their skills on an artificial arm complete with veins filled with fake blood, the students then had the opportunity to practice on each other and on their instructor and preceptors. 
With the classroom phase of the course over, the students must now complete four successful IV sticks in the field in order to complete the course. The nine students will be active in their respective ambulance services, local clinics and at the Rio Grande Hospital emergency room in order to accomplish their required field sticks.