Indiana State University Newsroom

Current and future health care providers in west-central Indiana have more opportunity to fine tune their skills following the expansion of a simulation center.

The Rural Health Innovation Collaborative has added 1,000 square feet and three high-tech human patient simulators to the center in the former intensive care unit of Union Hospital in Terre Haute.

"We now have more than twice as much space and more than three times as many high fidelity simulators than when we opened just three years ago," said Jack Jaeger, the center's director.

The expansion includes a diagnostics lab that houses many of the center's most sophisticated technological pieces, including the Anatomage Table, which allows students to perform virtual 3-D dissections, and three virtual reality simulators. A new training center has been added, allowing students and current practitioners to practice a wide variety of procedural skills on their own time.The center's integrated audio visual system has been expanded to include a third control room, allowing the facility to accommodate three high-fidelity simulations at the same time.

The addition of a third control room allows the center to train more people at the same time and to record additional training on video, enabling instructors and participants to see firsthand how each session is going, Jaeger said.

The collaborative has also acquired a used ambulance from the Terre Haute Fire Department for use in training and to help transport equipment.

"It fit right in with their needs," said Glen Hall, deputy chief of the department.

"It's a great program they have and it's a benefit for us because we can send our paramedics for refresher training," Hall said of the Simulation Center. "It's a great opportunity for us to further our occupation as medics."

The collaborative also acquired a stretcher for the ambulance from the Clinton Fire Department.

"We had a couple of surplus stretchers. What they're doing is very important and we were happy to help them get as many tools into their tool box as possible, said Chris Strohm, Clinton fire chief.

Launched in 2008 to build on Terre Haute's position as a center for innovation in rural health care, the Rural Health Innovation Collaborative develops and implements health care policies and procedures for the unique needs of under-served rural communities and provides inter-professional education for current and future health care providers. The collaborative of 14 education, health care, government and community development partners is also working to revitalize a Terre Haute neighborhood that lies between the Indiana State campus and Union Hospital.

Contact: Jack Jaeger, director, Simulation Center, Rural Health Innovation Collaborative, 812-238-4625 or jejaeger@uhhg.org

Writer: Dave Taylor, communications chair, Rural Health Innovation Collaborative, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu