Thanks to a $5,000 Operation Round Up grant from South River EMC, Dunn Emergency Services Inc. was able to purchase training tools for emergency personnel, including a STAT Simulator manikin. The specialized training the manikin provides is already paying off.
“We had recently met with our medical director about some of our skill percentages,” said Scott Phillips, assistant chief. “It was decided that we needed to have some additional tools to help our staff improve our skill success rate.”
For some time, the organization has relied on borrowing equipment from Harnett County or Central Carolina Community College, but it was always a bit of a struggle.
“It’s hard to coordinate training with the community college; they’re willing, but it’s hard to get our staff to them,” said Phillips. “We can’t check out of service for training and it’s difficult to get employees to classes on their days off, because they have previous commitments.”
South River EMC awarded the grant in March. With the 110-pound, life-like manikin, personnel have since been able to work multiple types of training into their days.
“We are able to perform airway skills, such as intubation and other airway adjuncts that are used on every call,” said Phillips. “We are also able to perform incisions and chest decompressions, which are very rare skills to perform.”
“We have seen a significant improvement in our success rates,” Phillips added. “Our medical director has been very happy with our progress.”
Operation Round Up is a voluntary program that allows cooperative members to round their electric bill up to the next whole dollar, with the difference helping to fund grants like this one that are used to benefit the community.
Scott Phillips performs an intubation on Fred, the manikin.