History of Medical Evolution and Education in Philipsburg
Philipsburg Pennsylvania is known for many things, from historical buildings, to its giant Santa which is erected in Cold Stream playground every year, but one of the most notorious things it has been known for over the years is the Medical Education in which has been provided to so many over the last century.
The Cottage State Hospital
The cottage State Hospital was built in 1890 along Loch Lomand Road in North Philipsburg. It was opened for the admission of patients on February 23rd, 1891, with Dr. Hobart Allport as the surgeon-in-chief.
It provided accomodations for 24 patients and featured a large front porch where patients could get some fresh air while they recuperated.
It was built for the care of injured miners in the Eigth Bituminous Coal District which served approximately 8,000 coal miners, 3,000 fire-clay industry workers and 5,000 - 6,000 lumber and railroad laborers. The hospital was for accidents only, by Dr. Allport attempted to get a bill through Harrisburg to make it a general hospital.
In 1909, a two story addition to the hospital was started which took several years to complete. The addition provided a womand's ward, and 5 private rooms.
In 1912, the Cottage State Hospital Training School for Nurses was established and in 1916, a nurse's home was built on the hospital grounds with accommodations for 20 students.
- Philipsburg Historical Society
Philipsburg State General Hospital
Although not much information can be found on the timeline between the Cottage State Hospital and the Philipsburg State General Hospital building, it was determined in 1916 that the Cottage State Hospital be torn down due to a fire hazard.
The "New" Philipsburg State General Hospital was built in the 1930s, and had numerous additions added throughout the years.
This became a State General Hospital meaning that it had moved on from being just a "miners" hospital, and was able to accomodate many other patients, eventually adding an emergency room.
Note the nurse's home, which was housing to nursing students, not to be confused with 'nursing home', to the right of the Hospital.
Philipsburg State General Hospital, School of Nursing
As did the Cottage State Hospital, the Philipsburg State General Hospital continued the tradition of a nursing school here in Philipsburg, being renamed the "Philipsburg State General Hospital, School of Nursing."
There are not many tracable records of this nursing school via online outlets, but upon research we were able to uncover yearbooks from the years 1952 through 1956. Just in that time period, the School of Nursing had over 4,000 students, could you only imagine how many nurses went through the doors of this institute over its nearly century long span?
EMS Training in Philipsburg - Over The Years
Although the Philipsburg area has a rich history of nursing education, it also holds a deep-rooted history of EMS education as well. Unknown of the year in which it began, we would imagine around the time EMS became modern in the US (Check out our other MVEMS history page), there began EMS training courses being held at the Philipsburg State General Hospital. Many of the EMS providers in our area that have a lengthy history in EMS remember this time, and some were trained at the PSGH. We have pictures dating back to 1985 of EMS training programs, such as this one.
Early in EMS Education, there were no consistant standards for training and testing for EMS. When patients were injured or ill, they did not know what level of medical attention they would recieve.
In this imagine, you will find Instructor Ann Weaver, and Students Rich Nardelli, Tom Lucas and Pam Albert (Not all names are provided in the orginal picture, and spelling may not be correct)
Time Marches On
As time goes on, new advancements in training programs and equipment come with it. Moshannon Valley EMS has provided training programs such as CPR and First Aid for many, many years.
In the year 2000, the Board of Directors of the NREMT adopts a strategic plan to help guide the direction of the organization. The LEADS committee completes a survey and snapshot on EMS work life and things begin to change, as of 2001, the National Registry of EMTs is used by 43 states. Although NREMT is not new at this point, it is quickly being adopted by the majority of the United States, creating a standard across the board.
In this photo, you can see Former Paramedic and Manager Sandy Foster, very happy to be engaged in the intruction of a CPR student. The date of this picture is unknown.
EMS Education Today
The technology and inovations in education have changed an astonishing amount over the last century, adding standards across the board, requirements to be EMS certified, and more innovated teaching methods allowing students to do much better and complexe treatment.
In 2010, the National Registry has a record year of applications for National EMS Certification, a record 140,686 applicants take the National Registry Exam.
As of December 6th, 2014, the National Registry administered its 1,000,000th exam.
Pennsylvania adopted the National Registry testing as the standard in PA. Any EMS clinician candidate must now take and pass both a practical and cognitive exam through the National Registry. It is not required as of now to maintain your national certification, but it is required to pass and obtain the certification before practicing as a certified provider in Pennsylvania.
In the early years, EMT training was typically around 40-60 hours. Today, that same training is nearly 200 hours, not including clinical rotations.
Moshannon Valley EMS Education Institute - 2023
In 2022, Moshannon Valley EMS Board of Directors met and discussed the need for additional EMS staffing, not only in our area, but in throughout the entire Region and State. It was determined that with recently recieved grant funding, and the plans to expand over the next several years, that the best time to start was now.
MVEMS hired a full-time administrative staff person to head the project alongside EMS Chief Wes Cartwright, who had many years of experience in EMS education.
MVEMS started from the ground on this project and has now become an accredited EMS Education Institute through the Pennsylvania Department of Health, hosting EMR and EMT classes regularly within the last year, and plans to continue to grow in EMS Education and carry on the tradition of Medical Education in the Philipsburg area.
We can not be more greatful to those who have come before us, and who have put the effort into making our area so greatly known for advancements and medical education throughout the years. We now have a full time Education Program Coordinator, a staff of 13 instructors certified to teach numerous education courses, and plan to continue this growth in our new state of the art facility, set to be constructed in the very place the orginal Philipsburg State General Hospital School of Nursing was located, in the coming years.