The Silliman University Medical Center Foundation Inc. signed a memorandum of agreement with the University of Sto Tomas Faculty of Medicine & Surgery Life Support Training and Simulation Center, designating the former as an accredited training site for Life Support Courses of the American Heart Association.
A ceremonial MOA signing was held on July 12 at the UST Training Center. The agreement is effective July 1, 2014.
The SUMCFI is the first AHA-authorized training site in Negros Oriental. As a training site, SUMCFI will be conducting AHA Life Support Courses like Basic Life Support, Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support, Pediatric Advanced Life Support, and ECG and Pharmacology.
The trainings will be provided and facilitated together with highly-trained instructors of the UST FMS Life Support Training Center, an AHA-accredited training center in the Philippines.
Upon successful completion of any of the courses, participants will receive an internationally- recognized certification which has a validity of two years.
The BLS training is open to all healthcare professionals who need to know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, as well as other life-saving skills in a wide variety of in-hospital and out-of-hospital settings.
On the other hand, the ACLS training is intended for all healthcare professionals who either direct or participate in the management of cardiopulmonary arrest or other cardiovascular emergencies.
Healthcare professionals who may need the internationally recognized training are those in the emergency response, emergency medicine, intensive care, and critical care units such as physicians, nurses and paramedics, as well as others who will need an ACLS completion card for job or other requirements.
The AHA-BLS certification is a pre-requisite of the ACLS course.
The first sessions of the SUMCFI as AHA training site will be held at the Hospital’s training rooms at the basement of the SUMC Jose Garcia Hall on: Aug. 24 — ECG and Pharmacology; Aug. 29—30 — BLS and ACLS.
It is the thrust of SUMCFI to initiate programs that would provide accessible and affordable quality trainings especially to health care providers.
This is in line with the hospitals mission “to care for people as a Christian ministry of healing through: excellent delivery of medical and health care services; excellent venue and source of medical training/ learning and research and; effective and prudent management of human and financial resources to make access to medical and health care services affordable”.
The number of participants per training course is, however, limited. Hence, SUMCFI will be accepting registration on a first-come-first serve basis.
For more information on the courses and the corresponding fees, please contact Jasmine Gotot (420200 loc. 554) or Cheryl Lynn Antonio (loc. 163).
The UST Faculty of Medicine & Surgery Life Support Training Center, an AHA accredited training center, is the first university-based AHA-accredited training center in the Philippines. They have been providing training courses for healthcare professionals as well as heart-saver courses for non-healthcare personnel since 2010.
The American Heart Association, a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas, fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. (Christine Realiza)
