Some area fire fighters and paramedics got to teach future doctors how they respond to emergency situations. The East Peoria Fire Department presented various types of emergency simulations to 30 emergency department residents with OSF Saint Francis Medical Center. The residents also got hands on experience in how to respond to those situations.
Dr. John Wipfler is an attending emergency physician at Saint Francis. He says the exercise is important so future doctors will know what victims have gone through before heading to the hospital.
“When these patients show up and they’re laying on a spine board and a neck collar, we know now what actually happened from the initial impact to getting rescued whether it’s in a car collision or in a collapsed building, some of these farm injuries where tractors lay on top of farmers. There’s some real important things that need to be done properly before the patient is even brought to the hospital.”
Dr. Wipfler says it will also help the budding emergency physicians better interact with first responders in a pre-hospital setting. He says the emergency simulations have been performed every three years for the last 25 years.