As state mandates increase the training requirements on Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel, the need for certified trainers and training centers have become imperative. To this end, many forward thinking members of the medical community, the DLSC, and the citizens at large found that in order to provide and meet the training requirements imposed, it was necessary to establish and maintain a state of the art training center that is recognized and accredited by the Commonwealth. To that end, the Danville Area Training Center was born.

Currently, the Office of Emergency Medical Services (OEMS) in Virginia has established several levels of training that establish tiers of patient treatment. Each higher-level program reinforces these basic skills and adds specific additional lifesaving techniques. The first level is First Responder. This is a very basic training level which requires minimal amounts of training.

The next level is EMT Basic which is the most common level of training held by providers in Danville and Pittsylvania County. The EMT is trained to provide the basics of the pre-hospital emergency medicine.

The term “advanced life support” refers to these basic level providers who take several hundred additional hours to learn more diagnostic skills, medication therapy and finally the ability to monitor cardiac rhythms and treat them accordingly.  These skills are practiced by EMT – Intermediate and EMT – Paramedic level providers.

Because the standard of care for our citizens has progressed to higher and higher expectations, the subsequent levels of medical training and competencies required to maintain this training has also increased. In addition, the OEMS has progressed to the point that training must be conducted by accredited institutions.