High Fidelity Mobile Training Vehicle to be Unveiled on March 5

Sponsored by: Health and Human Services Department, Administration/HHS Director's Office Division

Four area organizations have joined forces to develop a state-of-the-art, high fidelity mobile simulation vehicle that will be used to provide hands-on training for EMTs, paramedics, firefighters and EMT students.

After more than three years of planning and development, the vehicle will be unveiled on Monday, March 5, at 1:00 PM, at Hillsboro Fire Station #6.

Washington County Emergency Medical Services Office (WCEO), Portland Community College (PCC), Oregon Health & Science University's Department of Emergency Medicine (OHSU) and Oregon Institute of Technology Portland (OIT) are the partners in this effort.

"We had been looking to expand our simulation program, too," says John Saito, Dean of Allied Health, Emergency, and Legal Services at PCC's Cascade campus. "When Washington County EMS approached us to partner with them on this project, it afforded an opportunity for us to gain access to people and equipment that we could not have afforded on our own."

In exchange for providing funding, expertise or other resources, each partner agency is able to utilize the vehicle to conduct trainings.

"This new vehicle represents a unique and valuable learning tool for pre-hospital training." says Dr. Todd Ellingson, OIT Medical Director.

The simulation vehicle is equipped like a fully functioning ambulance. Lifelike on-board mannequins breathe, sweat, bleed and even talk. They will be used to train students on inserting IVs, advanced airway and life support, chest decompressions, injecting fluids and medications directly into bone, and other life-saving measures. The ambulance is outfitted with sophisticated audiovisual equipment that allows students outside of the vehicle to observe what is happening inside.

Dr. Rob Cloutier, Director of Simulation, OHSU Dept of Emergency Medicine, says, "We hope the unit can offer pre-hospital providers a means of practicing low frequency high risk resuscitations and fine tune their teamwork skills better than ever before."