The Council Bluffs Fire Department is set to take its training to a new level.
The ministry recently signed a contract with Air Methods to incorporate virtual reality into its training programs.
Air Methods is an air medical service with an education program called Ascend that offers in-person and virtual reality programs to provide advanced training.
Lt. Daniel Morse said the virtual reality portion of the training allows police to train in situations that they otherwise can’t simulate, broadening the scope of their training and allowing them to be better prepared for any scenario.
“This system creates an environment where our staff can look at things differently,” Morse said. “It’s immersive, it’s recreating situations that wouldn’t be possible in real life, and it gives them the opportunity to develop better clinical decision-making processes from there.”
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The department will also be participating in two days of advanced airway training. Morse said airway management is a difficult skill to master.
“It’s a two-day program that asks, ‘If this doesn’t work, what are the alternatives?'” Morse said. “We’re throwing different techniques and scenarios at the players to try to get them better at what they’re already doing.”
Morse said the goal is to challenge firefighters “so that they fail in training, so they can learn from their mistakes and be better in the field.”
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