Accessibility & Accommodation Policy

Texas Rescue Med, LLC (“Texas Rescue Med,” “TRM,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) is committed to providing accessible educational programs, services, facilities, communications, and website content to qualified individuals with disabilities. Texas Rescue Med does not discriminate on the basis of disability and will consider reasonable accommodation requests in accordance with applicable law, program requirements, patient safety expectations, and essential EMS education standards.

Policy Statement

Texas Rescue Med is committed to providing equal access to EMS education and related training opportunities. Individuals with disabilities may request reasonable accommodations to support access to programs, services, facilities, learning activities, assessments, communications, and website content.

Reasonable accommodations are determined on a case-by-case basis through an interactive review process. Accommodations are intended to provide meaningful access and equal opportunity. Accommodations do not guarantee admission, progression, course completion, certification, licensure, employment, clinical placement, or successful examination performance.

Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to accessibility and accommodation requests related to:

• Website access and online content.
• Enrollment and admissions processes.
• Classroom instruction.
• Online, hybrid, and virtual instructor-led training.
• Learning Management System access.
• Skills labs and simulation activities.
• Written assignments, quizzes, exams, and assessments.
• Practical skills evaluations.
• Communication access.
• Clinical, field, externship, internship, or capstone requirements when applicable.
• Program facilities and in-person training locations.
• Continuing education, refresher courses, card courses, and specialty training.

Essential EMS Program Requirements

EMS education prepares students for patient-facing healthcare and emergency response environments. Texas Rescue Med must preserve essential program requirements, patient safety standards, clinical readiness expectations, and certification-level competencies.

Reasonable accommodations may not:

• Eliminate essential course or program requirements.
• Lower academic, psychomotor, affective, clinical, field, or professional standards.
• Compromise patient, student, instructor, preceptor, or public safety.
• Alter certification-level competency expectations.
• Waive required skills, clinical experiences, field experiences, or capstone requirements.
• Remove required evaluation of cognitive, psychomotor, affective, communication, or clinical judgment competencies.
• Require Texas Rescue Med to fundamentally alter the nature of a course or program.
• Require an accommodation that creates an undue administrative, financial, operational, safety, or educational burden.
• Require a clinical or field site to accept an accommodation that the site determines is inconsistent with its safety, operational, or patient care requirements.

Functional Expectations in EMS Education

Students participating in EMS education may be required to perform or demonstrate functions related to EMS practice, with or without reasonable accommodation. These may include:

• Reading, understanding, and applying medical and operational information.
• Communicating clearly with patients, peers, instructors, preceptors, and healthcare professionals.
• Performing patient assessment and clinical decision-making.
• Performing psychomotor skills safely and accurately.
• Maintaining professionalism, confidentiality, and ethical conduct.
• Following directions in stressful or rapidly changing environments.
• Demonstrating sound judgment and scene safety awareness.
• Participating in laboratory, simulation, clinical, field, or capstone activities.
• Meeting attendance, documentation, testing, and competency requirements.
• Lifting, moving, positioning, or assisting with patients and equipment when required by the program or clinical setting.

Texas Rescue Med will evaluate accommodation requests while maintaining the essential functions and safety expectations of EMS education.

Requesting an Accommodation

Students or applicants seeking an accommodation should submit a written request as early as possible. Requests should be submitted before the start of the course whenever possible. Some accommodations require planning, technology support, faculty coordination, or clinical-site review and may not be available immediately.

The request should include:

• Student or applicant name.
• Contact information.
• Program or course.
• Description of the requested accommodation.
• Description of the limitation or barrier affecting access.
• Relevant supporting documentation when requested.
• Any known deadlines, test dates, skills dates, clinical dates, or course start dates.

Documentation

Texas Rescue Med may request reasonable documentation to help evaluate an accommodation request. Documentation may be requested when the disability, limitation, or need for accommodation is not obvious or when additional information is needed to determine an effective accommodation.

Documentation may include information from a qualified healthcare provider, educational professional, rehabilitation specialist, or other appropriate professional. Documentation should describe the functional limitation and the requested accommodation or recommended support.

Texas Rescue Med will not require unnecessary medical details beyond what is needed to evaluate the accommodation request. Accommodation documentation will be handled confidentially and shared only with individuals who have a legitimate need to know.

Interactive Review Process

Texas Rescue Med will review accommodation requests through an individualized process. This may include:

• Reviewing the student’s request.
• Reviewing supporting documentation when needed.
• Discussing the request with the student.
• Identifying barriers to access.
• Evaluating whether the requested accommodation is reasonable.
• Considering alternative effective accommodations when appropriate.
• Consulting with instructors, program leadership, clinical coordinators, technical support, or other appropriate personnel.
• Considering patient safety, essential program requirements, clinical-site limitations, and certification-level competency standards.
• Providing a written accommodation decision when appropriate.

Texas Rescue Med may approve the requested accommodation, approve an alternative accommodation, request additional information, or deny the request if the accommodation is not reasonable, would fundamentally alter the program, would compromise safety, would remove an essential requirement, or would create an undue burden.

Timing of Requests

Students should submit accommodation requests as early as possible. Late requests will be reviewed, but Texas Rescue Med cannot guarantee that accommodations can be implemented retroactively or immediately.

Accommodations are generally not retroactive. Students are responsible for requesting accommodations before assignments, exams, skills evaluations, clinical experiences, or other graded activities when accommodation is needed.

Failure to request an accommodation in a timely manner may limit the ability of Texas Rescue Med to implement the accommodation before a deadline, exam, skills session, clinical placement, or field assignment.

Classroom, Online, and LMS Accommodations

Reasonable accommodations in classroom, online, hybrid, VILT, or LMS-supported courses may include, when appropriate:

• Extended time for certain written assessments.
• Reduced-distraction testing environment when available.
• Accessible electronic documents when feasible.
• Captioned or transcript-supported materials when available or reasonably obtainable.
• Assistive technology compatibility when feasible.
• Modified seating arrangements.
• Permission to use approved assistive devices.
• Alternative communication formats.
• Adjusted deadlines when disability-related and approved in advance.
• Instructor awareness of approved accommodations.

Accommodations do not waive required learning objectives, assessment standards, attendance expectations, participation requirements, academic integrity standards, or completion requirements.

Skills, Simulation, and Psychomotor Evaluation Accommodations

EMS programs require demonstration of hands-on skills and practical performance. Texas Rescue Med may consider reasonable accommodations related to skills labs, simulations, and practical evaluations when they do not compromise essential competency, patient safety, evaluator reliability, or certification-level performance expectations.

Examples of possible accommodations may include:

• Additional time for instructions or setup when appropriate.
• Adaptive positioning when safe and educationally appropriate.
• Modified learning environment when feasible.
• Use of approved assistive devices when compatible with the skill.
• Additional practice opportunities when available.
• Clear written instructions or checklists when allowed by the evaluation standard.

Accommodations may not remove critical skill steps, waive safety requirements, eliminate required competency demonstration, or change the fundamental nature of the skill being evaluated.

Clinical, Field, Internship, and Capstone Accommodations

Clinical, field, externship, internship, and capstone activities occur in patient care and operational environments controlled in part by external clinical or EMS partners. Texas Rescue Med will consider accommodation requests related to clinical and field education; however, placement sites may have their own safety, operational, infection control, patient care, and staffing requirements.

Clinical or field accommodations may require review by Texas Rescue Med and the clinical or field site. Approval by Texas Rescue Med does not guarantee approval by a clinical or field partner.

Clinical and field accommodations may not:

• Compromise patient care or safety.
• Require unsupervised performance beyond the student role.
• Require the site to change essential patient care operations.
• Require the site to accept a student who cannot meet site requirements.
• Eliminate required clinical, field, internship, or capstone competencies.
• Replace required live patient care experiences unless allowed by applicable program, regulatory, or accreditation standards.

If a clinical or field site cannot support a requested accommodation, Texas Rescue Med will evaluate whether an alternative reasonable accommodation or placement is available. Texas Rescue Med cannot guarantee unlimited alternate placements.

Testing Accommodations and External Certification Exams

Texas Rescue Med may approve accommodations for internal course assessments when appropriate and when the accommodation does not compromise exam integrity or essential competency standards.

External certification, licensing, or registry examinations are controlled by external organizations such as the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, Texas DSHS, testing vendors, or certification bodies. Texas Rescue Med does not control whether an external testing organization approves accommodations.

Students seeking accommodations for external exams are responsible for reviewing the external organization’s accommodation process, submitting required documentation, meeting deadlines, and following all external requirements.

Approval of an accommodation by Texas Rescue Med does not guarantee approval of the same accommodation by NREMT, Texas DSHS, a testing vendor, clinical site, employer, or other external entity.

Service Animals

Texas Rescue Med recognizes the role of service animals for individuals with disabilities. Service animals are generally permitted in public areas and program spaces where participants are allowed, subject to safety, infection control, clinical-site, and operational limitations.

A service animal must be under control, housebroken, and not pose a direct threat to health or safety. Texas Rescue Med may ask only whether the animal is required because of a disability and what work or task the animal has been trained to perform when the need is not obvious.

Service animals may be restricted from certain laboratory, clinical, field, ambulance, simulation, sterile, high-risk, or safety-sensitive environments if the animal’s presence would compromise safety, infection control, patient care, or essential program operations. Emotional support animals, comfort animals, therapy animals, or pets are not treated as service animals unless otherwise required by applicable law.

Students who may need a service animal in a classroom, lab, clinical, or field environment should notify Texas Rescue Med as early as possible so that safety, site requirements, and placement considerations can be reviewed.

Temporary Medical Conditions

Temporary injuries, illnesses, pregnancy-related limitations, surgery recovery, or short-term medical restrictions may affect a student’s ability to participate in EMS education activities. Texas Rescue Med will review temporary accommodation or leave requests on a case-by-case basis.

Depending on the nature of the limitation, the student may be required to provide medical clearance before returning to skills labs, clinical rotations, field shifts, internship, or capstone activities.

Temporary restrictions may delay progression or completion if the student cannot safely perform required activities or complete required competencies within the course timeline.

Pregnancy and Related Conditions

Texas Rescue Med will consider reasonable accommodation or modification requests related to pregnancy, childbirth, lactation, or related medical conditions in accordance with applicable law and program requirements.

Students should notify Texas Rescue Med as early as possible if pregnancy or a related condition may affect classroom participation, lab activities, lifting, skills performance, clinical placement, field placement, exposure risk, scheduling, or completion timelines.

Texas Rescue Med may require healthcare provider guidance or clearance when safety-sensitive EMS activities, clinical exposure, or field participation may be affected.

Website Accessibility

Texas Rescue Med strives to maintain website content that is accessible and usable. If a website user experiences difficulty accessing content, forms, course information, policy pages, or digital materials, the user should contact Texas Rescue Med.

When reporting a website accessibility concern, please include:

• The webpage or URL involved.
• A description of the accessibility issue.
• The device, browser, or assistive technology being used, if relevant.
• Contact information for follow-up.

Texas Rescue Med will make reasonable efforts to address accessibility concerns and provide information in an alternative format when appropriate.

Confidentiality

Accommodation requests and related documentation will be treated as confidential to the extent practical and allowed by law. Information may be shared only with individuals who have a legitimate educational, operational, safety, clinical, or compliance need to know.

Examples may include the Program Director, course instructor, clinical coordinator, skills coordinator, testing coordinator, site coordinator, or other personnel involved in implementing an approved accommodation.

Student Responsibilities

Students receiving accommodations are responsible for:

• Submitting accommodation requests in a timely manner.
• Providing documentation when requested.
• Participating in the interactive review process.
• Communicating with Texas Rescue Med if the accommodation is not working.
• Following approved accommodation procedures.
• Meeting all academic, psychomotor, affective, clinical, field, professional, documentation, and financial requirements.
• Following all course, lab, clinical, field, and safety policies.
• Requesting external testing accommodations directly from the applicable external testing organization.

Failure to follow accommodation procedures may delay implementation or affect availability of the accommodation.

Denial or Modification of Accommodation Requests

Texas Rescue Med may deny or modify an accommodation request when:

• The request is not supported by the available information.
• The accommodation is not reasonable.
• The accommodation would eliminate an essential program requirement.
• The accommodation would fundamentally alter the nature of the course or program.
• The accommodation would compromise patient, student, instructor, preceptor, or public safety.
• The accommodation would create an undue burden.
• The accommodation conflicts with clinical or field site requirements.
• The accommodation would compromise exam integrity, skill validity, or competency standards.

When possible, Texas Rescue Med may offer an alternative accommodation that provides meaningful access while preserving essential program requirements.

Appeals

A student may appeal an accommodation decision by submitting a written appeal within fifteen (15) calendar days of receiving the accommodation decision.

The appeal should include:

• Student name.
• Course or program.
• Accommodation requested.
• Date of the decision being appealed.
• Reason for the appeal.
• Requested resolution.
• Supporting documentation, if any.

Appeals should be submitted to the Program Director or other designated Texas Rescue Med administrative contact through an official communication channel.

Texas Rescue Med administration will review the appeal and provide a written determination. The decision of Texas Rescue Med administration shall be final unless otherwise required by law, accrediting standards, or applicable written agreement.

Retaliation Prohibited

Texas Rescue Med prohibits retaliation against any individual who requests an accommodation, reports an accessibility concern, participates in an accommodation review, files a complaint, or assists another individual in exercising rights under this policy.

Concerns about retaliation should be reported immediately to Texas Rescue Med administration.

Relationship to Other Policies

This policy should be read together with the Texas Rescue Med Student Handbook & Program Manual, Program Disclosures, Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, Refund and Cancellation Policy, course syllabus, enrollment agreement, clinical site requirements, and official written communications.

If a more specific written document applies to a student, course, clinical placement, payment plan, or signed agreement, the more specific written document may control unless otherwise required by law.

Contact Texas Rescue Med

Questions about accessibility, accommodations, or this policy may be directed to Texas Rescue Med through an official communication channel.