In 2019, the Children’s Dream Foundation (CDF) provided funding towards the purchase of a Laerdal SimBaby for the Frank and Lisa Hoch Center for Emergency Education at Phelps Hospital. A SimBaby represents a 9-month-old pediatric patient and is a tetherless simulator designed to help healthcare providers effectively recognize and respond to critically ill pediatric patients.
The new SimBaby allowed Phelps to enhance their healthcare providers’ skills by conducting training sessions with a highly realistic, full-body, interactive pediatric simulator. Phelps utilized the SimBaby to train over three dozen medical professionals during a two month period to be better prepared to treat pediatric patients in a life-threatening emergency. Due to Covid-19, the training program was halted in March and resumed in July.
With the addition of the SimBaby to the Hoch Center, Phelps had the opportunity to provide training to new EMTs in the region. EMTs play a critical and early role in saving lives and guiding patients to their next stage of care. According to Jill Scibilia, Vice President of Development, “Seconds matter and thanks to the new SimBaby funded by this grant, new EMTs were trained to be better equipped to manage emergency pediatric cases in those first moments that matter – the moments that affect the long-term outcome of the child’s health.”