STANDS FOR YOU: School makes amends with valley woman out thousands of dollars

Three car accidents in the span of 10 years left Katelin Socci-Dupuis with severe damage to her neck and spine.

“Each one I was sitting at a red light, hit from behind. Hit exactly the same way every time,” Socci-Dupuis said recalling the crashes.

Socci-Dupuis said the experience ultimately inspired her to start over. She moved from New Hampshire to Palm Desert, and decided to pursue a career in medical imaging.

“In the beginning I was angry and bitter, and then I thought it was some sort of a wake up call, like go to something with your life,” she said.

But her injuries carried debilitating effects, including the loss of small motor skills.

“Anytime I grip small objects, my hand will becomes a claw,” Socci-Dupuis said. “It just locks that way and it’s very painful.”

Still, when she applied to the West Coast Ultrasound Institute in Ontario, California, she said the admissions office assured her that despite her injuries, she could become an ultrasound technician. They enrolled her in classes in July 2013.

“They were very encouraging. At no point was anyone concerned enough to have me hold the machine, but they could see I couldn’t hold a pen,” Socci-Dupuis said.

It wasn’t until her second semester that she got the chance to operate the hand-held device on an ultrasound machine, a transducer, and realized she couldn’t.

“The teacher would come over and I explained to him I can’t feel which direction my hand is going,” Socci-Dupuis said. “And he’s the one who said you’ll never be able to do this long enough to make a living.”

With $6400 already spent on tuition, she called and wrote letters to the school, asking for a refund but didn’t hear back.

CBS Local 2 Stands For You so we called the West Coast Ultrasound Institute on her behalf and got a response within a few hours.

In a statement, WCUI’s Chief Operating Officer, Andrew High said:

“West Coast Ultrasound Institute is interested in providing a strong education to its students so that those students will be able to obtain highly successful careers in their chosen field. Because of Katelin’s physical limitations, she was unable to continue in the field of ultrasound. For that reason, West Coast Ultrasound Institute will refund Katelin’s tuition in full.

West Coast Ultrasound Institute is committed to providing its students with the best possible education and customer service and will continue to evaluate its policies to ensure that this standard is met.”