The emergency training program at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY, was established at least 20 years ago, but the training offered today is light-years ahead of those first courses. After a period of scrambling for classroom space in the original facility, a brand-new, 7,000-square-foot center opened in September 2007 that should be the envy of training programs across the country. According to its director, Jeff Meade, NREMT-P, CIC, much of the credit for the facility is due to the persistence of Phelps' long-time medical director, Dr. Emil Nigro, and a generous benefactor who donated $1 million to begin the process for a new training center.

     "We now have a facility where our primary mission remains emergency medical services, but it's been expanded to include training for ED staff," says Meade. One highlight is training for field and in-hospital personnel on decontamination procedures.

     "We have a room set up with water sprayers in the ceiling, decon tables, epoxy-treated walls and a floor drain, so it's designed for real hands-on decontamination," says Meade. "To further that, we had a 150-lb. manikin built for us that's specially designed for decontamination practice."

     All rooms are fully equipped with built-in digital imagery and audio, so students' skill sessions can be videotaped and played back individually or to an entire class.

     "In the simulation lab, students become so immersed in their environment they forget the camera is there," says Meade. "As they begin to interact with their very life-like manikin, making assessments and administering treatment, you can see their stress levels rise and see them get upset when they think they aren't doing well. When we replay the sessions, the instructor can zoom in on specific areas. If the student is taking a blood pressure, the cameras are good enough so you can actually read the numbers off the cuff."

     The center has state-of-the-art emergency medicine simulators set up in three rooms: One resembles a home environment, one the inside of an ambulance and the third a hospital emergency room.

     "We literally built the inside of a Type I box ambulance, even lifting the floor to the actual height of the back of an ambulance," says Meade. "It has built-in suction and oxygen, the beds are the correct height, and the height inside is the same as a real vehicle.