Scottsdale Healthcare Breaks Ground on Military Training Center

Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn provides hands-on training benefiting military and community care

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., April 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Scottsdale Healthcare officials and Congressman Harry Mitchell today announced construction of a new military trauma training center at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center. A ceremonial groundbreaking at the hospital recognized the training program's importance to the community.

Planned to open later this year, the 7500 sq. ft. Scottsdale Healthcare Military Training Center will house a high-tech teaching facility with human patient simulators and six emergency/disaster simulation training rooms. The center will expand and enhance capabilities of the hospital's existing training program.

Mock battlefield operating rooms and intensive care units will be included in the new training center. Life-like patient simulators will have heart beats, breathing and abdominal sounds, the ability to talk and respond to medications, and other functions including various trauma "injuries" that actually "bleed."

The facility also will be available for use by local paramedics, firefighters and Scottsdale Healthcare staff.

"Military medical personnel hone their trauma skills right here at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, one of the first community hospitals in the U.S. to provide military trauma training," said Scottsdale Healthcare President & CEO Tom Sadvary.  "The program focuses on a practical, integrated and proactively coordinated approach to regional disaster readiness as well as offering military personnel the ability to sustain their skills through utilization of Scottsdale Healthcare's trauma facilities."

Scottsdale Healthcare continues to develop programs and technologies aimed at training military and civilian medical personnel. Its partnerships with the military led to creation of the Coyote Crisis Campaign regional disaster response exercise. Scottsdale Healthcare's leadership in disaster preparedness and its military collaborations also were showcased during its successful response to the recent H1N1 flu pandemic.

"This program will help enable our military men and women to be ready for high-trauma situations they encounter overseas, and to also serve our community," said Mitchell. "The program keeps military costs to a minimum, while enhancing the experience and training with top notch equipment and professionals."

Physicians, surgeons, nurses and other military medical personnel learn in classrooms and get hands-on experience at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center. Nearly 650 men and women have already trained at the hospital, gaining necessary skills and experience to successfully perform under wartime conditions and during humanitarian relief operations.

Construction of the Scottsdale Healthcare Military Training Center is being funded through a $1.6 million congressional appropriation, supported by Mitchell as part of the FY09 Defense Appropriation Bill.

Scottsdale Healthcare's partnership with the U.S. Armed Forces began in 2004, one of the first community hospitals in the United States to welcome all branches of the military for trauma training. Other hospitals and military bases have used the program's model to prepare military physicians, nurses and medics while building a relationship that can be used in possible disaster response situations.

 "We've designed the new training center to be as real-life as possible for treating the types of injuries that military personnel would encounter if deployed to austere locations around the globe,"  said Wendy Lyons, RN, Scottsdale Healthcare Vice President of Community Stewardship.

Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center is verified as a Level I Trauma Center by the American College of Surgeons, the highest level of verification for U.S. trauma center capabilities.

SCOTTSDALE HEALTHCARE MILITARY TRAINING PROGRAM

• Established in 2004 at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center.

• 643 military personnel have completed trauma training to date.

• Participating military branches: U.S. Air Force,  Air National Guard,  Air Force Reserve, Army Reserve, Army National Guard.

• Units from Arizona, Hawaii, Arkansas, California, Missouri, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington and Texas have trained at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn.

• Military physicians, nurses, medics, OR techs, pharmacy techs, lab techs, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, mental health professionals and logistics personnel have trained at Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn.

• Scottsdale Healthcare's disaster response and trauma training program is a national model for other hospitals and military bases.

Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn Medical Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Shea Medical Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Thompson Peak Hospital, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Healthcare Research Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Community Health Services, NOAH Clinics, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale Healthcare Foundation. For more information, visit www.shc.org.

SOURCE Scottsdale Healthcare