Gordon Cooper's New Buildings Provide Wide Variety Of Training Resources For First Responders, Students

by David Dinsmore

Buildings that serve the needs of public safety often come with certain preconceived concepts about how they look and how they are used.

Some may picture cinder block walls, drop ceilings and inadequate lighting stemming from years of use, remodels and budget cuts.

This was the opposite aesthetic envisioned for Gordon Cooper Technology Center’s newest addition to the Shawnee campus, said Rusty Gilpin, certified health programs coordinator and now building manager at the new facility at Gordon Cooper.

Gordon Cooper opened its new Marty Lewis Public Safety Building in July 2020 with the goal of enhancing paramedic and criminal justice students’ training and preparation while providing new ways for current first responders in Shawnee and surrounding communities to keep their skills sharp.

“We were already hosting a lot of activities for police departments and fire departments (prior to construction of the new building),” Gilpin said. “And we already had a robust EMT and paramedic program. The thought was, ‘Let’s create a home for all of these programs.’”

Former superintendent Marty Lewis saw the need to expand the facilities available to those undergoing training in the paramedic programs and classes offered at Gordon Cooper, Gilpin said. Though students in these programs had places in the campus’s main building, the nature of the job of emergency medical responders sometimes made it difficult to decide if they should share facilities with nursing focused programs or lawenforcement focused programs.

Though the response to the coronavirus pandemic impacted the number of new trainees the programs could host this year, Gilpin said the new facility gives criminal justice and paramedic students dedicated space to focus on their training and enhance their ability to serve the community when they get on the job. Classrooms and conference spaces are essential offerings of the new Marty Lewis Public Safety Building, but it is the more hands-on focused areas that add new dimensions to what the programs can now offer.

Those training in paramedic have had access to ambulances for training in that type of environment, but the new building has a space to house this ambulance training indoors so that weather is less of a factor while students are first learning to apply new skills. It also allows them to replicate different scenarios they may encounter in the field using backdrops and tangible materials, such as the bedroom of a home or outside at a sporting event.

This program also benefits from the lab areas dedicated to giving trainees the chance to practice real-world techniques that could save lives in the field, Gilpin said. The school also has begun incorporating virtual and augmented reality simulations to make up for some of the elements and challenges plastic bodies simply cannot provide.

For those taking part in the criminal justice programs, the new public safety building offers amenities like a dedicated fitness space for activities such as exercise and conditioning as well as real world application of self-defense and other essential skills.

The new building arose from needs not only within the schools programming but also from agencies in the community charged with keeping residents safe and healthy. Administrators at Gordon Cooper worked closely with local and area fire departments and other first response agencies when planning and constructing its new public safety building.

“Our volunteer firefighters, emergency services personnel and the many law enforcement agencies in our area contribute greatly to the safety and livability of our communities,” Gordon Cooper superintendent Bob Perry said. “The training that happens on this campus and at this

The Marty Lewis Public Safety Building on the Shawnee campus of Gordon Cooper Technology Center opened in July 2020 to house the school’s paramedic and criminal justice programs along with hosting a variety of training and classes centering on medical, fire and law enforcement services. Photos submitted

facility is truly life saving for some. I personally know people that are alive today, because a first responder was able to be there for them.”

One aspect of the new facility in which emergency responders had the most input came in the form of the three-story “burn building” that allows fire crews to practice scenarios to prepare them for real-world emergencies, Gilpin said. The building – made from a combination of shipping crates along with other materials – allows firefighters and trainers to create custom situations that crews may face at the scene of an emergency, such as practicing repelling from the roof, entry into attic and upper floor rooms for rescue and extinguishing a variety of fires in a controlled environment.

The burn building opened and became available for use prior to the larger building housing the classroom and conference areas, Gilpin said. Gordon Cooper hosted certifications to get personnel ready to control and implement these training scenarios, Gilpin said. Since then, fulltime and volunteer departments have been able to stage trainings for their firefighters without having to find time to schedule a training further from home.

“This campus is at a very convenient location for statewide training,” Perry said. “This facility is not only helping us meet local needs in emergency medical services, fire safety and law enforcement but is bringing people to our community to take advantage of the training resources here.”

In the past, local firefighters had to seek training in other communities around the state to sharpen their skills and make them more effective when the time comes to respond to local incidents, Gilpin said. This travel sometimes proves difficult particularly for volunteer departments in rural communities whose personnel often also work other jobs in addition to responding to the needs of their neighbors. The new public safety building at Gordon Cooper and the accompanying burn building gives them a place to train regularly without having to schedule travel time and gives them opportunities to work closely with full-time departments to help share insights and knowledge about how best to approach the job.

“We’re fortunate here in Shawnee to have a great group of full-time firefighters who really want to pour into our volunteer firefighters,” Gilpin said. “Our volunteers are in a unique situation where they work a full-time job and (are) volunteering to put out fires in their communities, and our full-time firefighters see the chal-

Administrators at Gordon Cooper drew inspiration from welcoming environments like those found at large hotels and conference centers when designing its new public safety building to give first responders a comfortable environment to undergo conferences and trainings.

This digital projection simulator allows trainees to interact with a controlled scenario to practice de-escalation techniques in tense law enforcement scenarios within the new Marty Lewis Public Safety Building at Gordon Cooper Technology Center. lenges in that. They want to help the volunteers to be able to save lives and property, but they also want them to be safe.”

Beyond fire instruction courses, the new facility has also provided a home for an academy implemented by the Shawnee Police Department for new recruits from a variety of area departments, Gilpin said. The law enforcement training course got underway last fall for officers who will be serving the community. The resources provided to the students of Gordon Cooper’s criminal justice program – such as a life-size digital simulator that helps participants practice de-escalation techniques by replicating tense situations – makes it a good fit for those getting ready to serve.

“It has been amazing having them on campus,” Gilpin said. “It’s created a lot of camaraderie between (the academy cadets and the full-time students of Gordon Cooper’s programs).”

One of the future benefits of Gordon Cooper having a facility like this could be in providing courses and a central place for local agencies to find new recruits and work with instructors to identify prime candidates and communicate what skills they would like to see new personnel bring with them to the job, Gilpin said. This could help shorten the gap between the time of initial recruitment and when new personnel can become highly effective in their service to the community through the agency.

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“The type of hands-on training available in this facility seems to always be in demand,” Perry said. “I expect in the future to see Gordon Cooper Technology Center building on the lessons we are learning in this facility to offer even more enhanced learning environments that replicate real-life situations.”

As far as the facility’s environment and aesthetics, Gilpin said he and his team understand the difficulty that first responders face in their jobs. When they undergo voluntary or mandatory training or participate in professional conferences to improve their performance, the building’s planners wanted to provide a space to accomplish these tasks that was welcoming and inviting.

Some inspiration for its main entrance, meeting areas and amenities came directly from places like hotels and conference centers rather than government buildings that often house the departments where many of the attendees may work, Gilpin said, and their considerations have not only received compliments from visitors but have also caught the attention of other departments around the region looking for places to host training activities.

“They were affectionately calling this building Beverly Hills for a while,” Gilpin said laughing. “We’ve got veteran law enforcement and firefighters who walk in and are impressed with how nice this building is and are glad they are here for their conference or training class.”

The Marty Lewis Public Safety Building at Gordon Cooper provides unique training resources, such as a closed bay housing an ambulance so paramedic and emergency medical students can focus on practicing responding to a variety of scenarios in a controlled environment.

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