That’s exactly what happened at Parkview Whitley Hospital for four days last week, when EMTs and paramedics took part in an intense simulated interactive driving experience to hone their emergency-vehicle driving skills.
The program is offered by the Indiana Public Employers Plan, Inc., as part of its Safety and Loss Prevention Program, and is administered by Downey Insurance in Kokomo, Ind. Funds to administer the program come from an Indiana Department of Homeland Security grant. EMS director Duane Ginder arranged for the simulator to be brought to Parkview Whitley Hospital to train not only his staff, but several local police officers
and fire fighters as well.
“This is the first-ever opportunity for our emergency workers to train in simulated driving scenarios,” said Ginder. “The advantage is that it teaches important driving skills without putting anyone at risk.”
The drivers were trained in a 35-foot-long climate-controlled “Team-IPEP” trailer parked on the hospital campus near the EMS department. The trailer houses a very impressive three-screen arcade-like training simulator, which cost $100,000 to develop. The state-of-the-art virtual driving simulator was designed and built by the same company that manufactures the Link Flight Simulator used by both military and civilian flight schools. It is equipped with two simulators, one for training EMS and police, and another for fire fighters.
Certified instructor Thomas Clarkson of Downey Insurance described the instructions to teach trainee, controlling the driving situations from a computer located behind the trainee. Following a few exercises to get the trainees accustomed to the simulator, each driver was put through emergency scenarios. The instructor read a traffic-accident situation and then the driver maneuvered his or her way through road traffic
to the emergency location.
The drivers had to carefully drive around true-to-life obstacles such as children on bicycles, unheeding drivers, sun glare, fog, blind intersections and more. Following each scenario, the instructor played back the driver’s session, pausing to point out responses that went well and ways the driver could have done better.
The Team IPEP simulator program has been operating in Indiana since 2000.
