Barack Obama: Obama Announces Funding for Illinois Health Training and First Responder Programs

Funding will expand first responder training to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans

July 12, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee approved his funding requests for strengthening training for first responders and health care professionals.

“We’ve got to make sure our first responders and health care professionals are ready to defend us against any type of emergency, even those we can’t foresee,” said Senator Obama. “This critical funding will extend advanced first responder training at Benedictine University to veterans and current professionals throughout the state, opening up new opportunities for veterans and ensuring that thousands of Illinois residents stand ready in case of the unexpected. We must continue to address Illinois’s health care professional shortage, and these additional resources will encourage our universities to increase enrollment in health care training programs and better protect our state’s most vulnerable citizens.”

FY08 Senate Financial and General Government Appropriations:

$750,000 for Benedictine University in Lisle, for the First Responder Program – An Education Initiative for Public Safety Officers and Iraqi and Afghanistan Veterans

Currently, Benedictine offers secondary education degree programs to firefighters, who pay only for their textbooks; the University has absorbed all other costs. This project would expand the program to include Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and first responders throughout Illinois, allowing police, firemen, and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans throughout Illinois to receive a free education from Benedictine University.

$250,000 for the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities in Springfield, for its Training Health Professionals program

Illinois and the nation are facing a critical workforce shortage in healthcare across a deep cross section of the industry. The Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities' challenge and goal is to meet the needs of the small business community and strengthen the technical, scientific, managerial and leadership capacity of our public health workforce. Bradley University, West Suburban College of Nursing and Rosalind Franklin University, in collaboration with the Federation, will develop new infrastructure and programs to increase enrollment in key health profession programs which will provide a better trained work force for the small business sector in the surrounding areas.

Source: Senator Barack Obama

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