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Area Ambulance Trains in Largest One-day Event

By February 23, 2011January 11th, 2019No Comments

The Healthcare Simulation Center helps train all of Area Ambulance’s EMTs and paramedics

Employees of Cedar Rapids’ primary provider of pre-hospital care are going back to school. Area Ambulance Service employees will go through training at the Kirkwood Healthcare Simulation Center at Kirkwood Community College, in the largest single-day training event the Simulation Center has held. They will train on Wednesday, February 23 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

All of the EMTs and paramedics from Area Ambulance will be training in five rooms of hands-on, high-tech training. The employees will work on infant emergencies, child emergencies, childbirth, emergency airway management and other simulations. With Kirkwood’s state-of-the-art audio/visual system, the trainees will be able to work through the simulation, then watch video of their training, to learn from the experience.

“What we offer here at the Kirkwood Healthcare Simulation Center is the ability to let the EMS personnel act on the training they know, and let them sit down and watch how they did after,” said Center director, Dr. Mike McLaughlin. “Giving them the ability to watch their performances, really takes learning to the next level. They can pick up on things they may not see themselves doing in their day-to-day work.”

Ten times a year Area Ambulance employees are working on Continuing Education in various forms, including twice yearly at the Kirkwood Healthcare Simulation Center, but never to the scale of Wednesday’s training.

“The great thing about using the Simulation Center, is we can get as close to reality as possible, without actually being in the field,” said Area Ambulance manager Bob Ugarph. “We’re able to put scenarios together that we don’t often encounter in the field. Because of their seriousness, these are things we need our employees to be proficient in, like childbirth and airway management.”

Area Ambulance is partnered with the Regional Center for EMS Education, with Kirkwood Community College and serves a 240 square mile area in Linn and portions of Benton and Johnson Counties, while providing mutual aid with other surrounding services. Area Ambulance has been a key player in paramedic training, providing an opportunity for students from Kirkwood Community College with in-field experience.