Mobile Training Unit Brings Advanced Simulation to Rural Alaska

Doing EMS in Alaska is a bit different than in many parts of the United States.

For one thing, Alaska averages just 1.2 persons per square mile, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data, whereas the United States as a whole averages 87.4 persons per square mile. Even in Alaska’s population centers, high frequency calls don’t mean quite the same thing as they do in, say, Chicago.

That makes the need for quality training especially important for Alaskan EMS providers, who may not see many high complexity calls due to relatively low call volumes, says Gene Wiseman, rural EMS district chief for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, located in south-central Alaska near Wasilla.

To that end, construction was recently completed on a specialty mobile ambulance simulation trailer for Mat-Su Borough by Clegg Industries. The simulation trailer, expected to be up and running by the end of June, is intended to bring high fidelity simulation capability to the rural communities of the Mat-Su Borough. These communities include Butte, Sutton, Lake Louise, Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek, says Wiseman, and represent an area approximately the size of West Virginia.

Wiseman explains the mobile ambulance simulation trailer will provide a safe environment for EMS providers to experience high complexity calls that are low frequency. Each of the ambulance service areas will have trained simulation facilitators to run training sessions using Guamard simulators and recording equipment. Those simulators include the Adult HAL with trauma accessories, the five-year-old HAL and an infant HAL.

Additional features include a walk-on roof with extendable safety rails to allow for an elevated viewing point for field triage and extrication scenarios. Given the darkness of Alaska’s winter months, extendable LED field lighting has been installed to illuminate the training field. The unit is also equipped with a 10K diesel generator so it can operate independent of an outside power source, and two ESPAR heaters and heavy insulation to keep participants warm during times of extreme cold.

Wiseman adds there are two separate compartments within the trailer. “The rear half of the trailer is a near replica of our ambulance’s patient care compartment. The front compartment is the unit’s control room where the facilitators will run the given scenario. The two compartments are separated by a sound deadening bulk head wall and a one-way glass.”

He adds, “Simulation experiences will start small and grow in sophistication throughout the years to come. We want to ensure success and not overwhelm the participants—or facilitators—with unreasonable expectations.”

The mobile ambulance simulation trailer will also be used as a recruitment tool, according to Wiseman. It will be on display at various community events with the intention of raising public awareness about local EMS capabilities, as well as raising interest in employment as an on-call EMS provider.

Wiseman says the entire project was funded through a state legislative/FEMA grant, and is two years in the making. He hopes the mobile ambulance simulation trailer can serve as a model for other rural EMS agencies that struggle with providing care over long distances. “Clegg Industries did an outstanding job bringing this vision to life.”