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How South Dakota delivers latest in emergency training to every EMT and hospital


It’s National Emergency Medical Services Week, and especially in rural America, we know how vital the countless volunteer and professional first-responders are to saving lives. The National Rural Health Association is grateful for programs like Simulation in Motion-South Dakota (SIM-SD), which provides free, state-of-the-art training to every ER staff and emergency medical technician in South Dakota, including Brent Hoffman, part of an all-volunteer crew based in Enning, S.D, population 183. They cover a 1,000-square-mile area, much of it more than an hour from the nearest hospital. “We get about 20 to 30 calls a year, not a lot of runs since we’re on call at different times,” he says. “So it’s always a challenge to feel like our skills are as polished as they need to be.” SIM-SD gives rural hospital staffs and EMTs, who may only encounter a critically ill or injured patient a couple times a year, the chance to practice with human-like, computerized mannequins that breathe, talk, cough, sweat, blink, bleed, react to medication, cry, die and more. Check out this NRHA Rural Roads magazine feature story for more on this innovative program.

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