Connect With Your Community!
Connect With Your Community!
Three Forks Area Ambulance volunteers will take part in a SIM-MT event this Saturday. An open house for area residents is also scheduled from Noon to 1 p.m. Photo courtesy of SIM-MT.
Pictured is a pediatric "manikin" at a SIM-MT training event.
Later this week, members of the Three Forks Area Ambulance service (TFAA) will participate in a Simulation in Motion Training – Montana (SIM-MT) event.
With the local service in desperate need of volunteers, the Simulation Training event scheduled for October 15 will also include an open house for the public from Noon to 1 p.m. at the ambulance barn at 2 E. Hickory St. in Three Forks.
Barbara Mutter of TFAA is elated to work with SIM-MT, a non-profit that brings quality simulation training to rural Montana and ensures all clinicians have access to simulation education to improve patient outcomes and team performance.
Mutter said when a service has a low call volume, the training from SIM-MT is valuable because it allows volunteers to get needed training under their belt and not have to experience a "baptism by fire" situation.
Mutter has been working hard to spread the word about the need for additional volunteers and said her priority right now is to get at least a group of five area residents to commit to an EMS training class soon.
Mutter scheduled the open house Saturday as another way for the public to learn more about the service.
"We need a couple of community members to step up to keep our doors open. Getting more volunteers is absolutely necessary," Mutter said.
SIM-MT Sales Director Susanne Hill is excited about the opportunity in Three Forks.
"Barb Mutter and her team are working really hard to ensure Three Forks is a safe place to live and visit, by building a sustainable EMS service. We are thrilled to be a training partner and are committed to doing everything we can to support them in this effort of engaging the community and providing high-fidelity simulation training to crew members," Hill said.
Mutter has invited other agencies to the training this week and stressed how vital working with them Saturday would be if they are on a mutual aid call in the future.
Hill said Audi Bozeman has generously donated $2,500, making the October 15 training event a possibility.
An additional SIM-MT training event is scheduled for November 12 in Three Forks. Hill added their goal is to be part of an annual training program in Three Forks.
Looking towards the future, Mutter has been looking at ways to offset the $1,800 cost of an EMS training class for new volunteers.
ABOUT SIM-MT
SIM-MT works primarily with rural & frontier emergency response agencies and hospitals to train best practice methodology for trauma, cardiac & stroke response, and other critical events where time is of the essence.
Inside our three simulation semi trucks, we design and run life-like rehearsals for these scenarios, using "highfidelity" manikins that are as realistic as possible -- they breathe, they have heartbeats and pulses, their eyes open and close, they talk and, in the case of the infant and pediatric manikins, they cry tears.
Within minutes, participants in the training forget it is a simulation. By practicing with their team in this safe simulation environment where the stakes are lower but the scenario is real, healthcare personnel encounter situations they rarely see, sharpening skills and learning best practices without a patient's life hanging in the balance.
These situations and simulations are replicable, which means they can be repeatedly practiced, enhancing the skills of medical professionals. In addition, simulation education is proven to be highly successful in:
● Reducing preventable medical errors (the 3rd leading cause of death in the United States)
● Preparing healthcare teams for high-consequence care
● Improving patient outcomes
● Identifying latent safety threats for patients
