Spring Hill EMS launches ambulance simulator to train members
A new training room is giving Spring Hill EMS members a realistic environment to practice lifesaving skills.
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The Spring Hill Community Ambulance Corps in New Hempstead now has a new ambulance simulator room designed to help crews practice lifesaving skills in a realistic, controlled environment.
"There's a saying that you don't rise to the occasion, you fall to the level of your training. This helps raise that bar for our members," said Akiva Zidell, president of Spring Hill Emergency Medical Services.
Zidell showed News 12 the replica ambulance and advanced mannequin (Trauma Hal Manikin) used in the training program.
The mannequin can breathe, talk, sweat, bleed and respond to the care being done.
During a training scenario performed for News 12, the technology could analyze whether crews were performing CPR effectively.
"We're getting real-time feedback from the manikin, if the compressions are deep enough, if they're fast enough," said Zidell.
The new simulator will ultimately help the agency continue to better serve the community.
Spring Hill responds to about 8,500 calls each year.
Rebecca Finney will oversee training sessions in the simulator room, where crews can practice responding to emergencies in a controlled setting.
"We want the crews to get the practice on it in a situation that's manufactured and not as high-stress, chaotic, so when we're on an actual call and things go wrong, things change in the moment, they have a practice to fall back on and do things appropriately," Finney said.
Spring Hill EMS cut the ribbon on the simulator in late October and has held a series of training sessions since then.
The agency serves the Clarkstown and Ramapo areas.
