On Jan. 7, county commissioners approved an educational affiliation agreement between Williamson County and Temple College to allow eligible students to use the county’s Emergency Medical Services facilities for training and educational purposes.

In a nutshell

While Temple College currently offers EMS courses for students, school officials were seeking an additional component in the program that could provide students with clinical experience, according to county documents.

Per county documents, the agreement will allow students to participate in supervised rides with WilCo EMS medics. While the college’s main campus is located in Temple, the school has Hutto and Taylor campuses, according to its website.

WilCo’s EMS department—which is celebrating 50 years of service this year—has agreed to also offer its facilities to students in the program, per county documents.

The specifics

According to the agreement’s terms, Temple College will, among other responsibilities:

• Select students and ensure prerequisites are met for program participation
• Coordinate and implement the program of study
• Provide annual anticipated enrollments for courses intended to use the program
• Maintain a liability insurance policy to cover students, employees and faculty in Temple

Similarly, Williamson County officials are expected to:

• Use designated facilities to provide clinical education to students
• Provide an orientation session for Temple students and staff to learn about rules regulations, policies and procedures in said facilities
• Complete student evaluations for course work

Breaking it down

Both parties agree to designate a liaison to coordinate the use of facilities, set student enrollment, review protocols, evaluate necessary changes and approve curriculum assignments affecting WilCo EMS facilities, per county documents.

Temple students and instructors will not receive county benefits or compensation through the agreement, as they will not be county employees, according to county documents. The county reserves the right to terminate a student from participating if they are disruptive or pose a threat to the facilities.

Temple College affiliates are expected to comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, and both parties will comply with the Family and Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, per county documents.

Going forward

The agreement can be reviewed annually by Temple College and WilCo EMS.

The program will continue until terminated by either party, or if a county department suspends participation due to space constraints, staff training requirements, budgetary issues or other urgent reasons, per the document.