Used ambulance donated to Panola College's EMT program | Health

Students enrolled in the Emergency Medical Response class at Panola College now have a more realistic setting to train in.

An ambulance recently retired from the Marshall Fire Department was donated to Panola College for its Emergency Medical Response program.

“Until the donation of the ambulance, all training was done with just a stretcher (also donated by MFD) and our simulation mannequin “Simman,” said Ronnie Morton, Director of the EMS Program. “We recently made Simman, also known as “Sam,” wireless so that he could be moved around and not have to be tethered to an electrical plug. We are now able to actually put Sam in the back of the ambulance and have the students actually work in a confined space that is more realistic than the classroom.

“Simulation is the way a lot of the material will be taught in the future,” Morton continued. “I can get a healthy person to come be a patient for the class, but when you’re trying to teach abnormal breath sounds or different cardiac problems on a healthy person it just isn’t the same as teaching it on Sam. With Sam as the patient, the instructor can actually make him talk, have different breath sounds during a difficulty breathing situation. When simulating a cardiac call, Sam can go from a conscious patient having chest pain to a full cardiac arrest patient. Students will see all this when Sam is hooked up to the monitor and can apply appropriate procedures to bring Sam back to life. If they do not do it right, Sam can actually die. During the scenario all procedures are recorded so that after the call, the instructor is able to brief the student on what was done right or what was done wrong so that the student learns from their mistakes in a controlled environment."