Littleton, NH – Littleton Regional Healthcare (LRH) is extremely grateful for its many generous donors. Although some donors specify how they would like the organization to use their gift, many give LRH the liberty to make use of their donation in an area of greatest need. The LRH Fundraising Committee is made up of LRH senior leadership, clinicians, and Board members. This committee prioritizes the needs of the organization as a whole, identifying programs and services to enable LRH to continue its role in providing high quality healthcare that brings value to all. Recently, this committee approved the purchase of high-fidelity training manikins, an investment of $100,000. LRH now has a state of the art Simulation (Sim) Lab for nurses, new graduate nurses, nursing assistants (LNAs), medical assistants (MAs), rrespiratory therapists, and physicians.
The Sim Lab houses the manikins. This space is set up like the hospital’s inpatient units. It provides a realistic environment for clinical staff to participate in scenarios they encounter in their work. Using the manikins, clinical staff practice clinical skills they use daily. Just as important, the manikins can be set up for staff to practice skills they do not perform often, but are essential competencies. These lifelike manikins can talk, move their limbs, and make heart and lung sounds. The manikins themselves can be programmed to simulate patients involved in trauma, and patients with abnormal heart beats or who have serious trouble breathing. Also, the adult manikin named “Susie” can be set up to mimic the various stages of pregnancy. This can be invaluable not only to hospital staff who work in Maternity, but to EMTs in the community. Likewise, clinical staff are able to maintain competencies necessary to care for babies born at LRH. Sim Lab staff can program “Tory”, the newborn baby manikin, for any number of conditions arising in a newborn. These are just a few examples of how this training lab works.
Heather Newfield, RN, BSN, CEN, CPAN and Manager of Education and Staff Development states, “We are so pleased to have the Simulation Training Lab available to our staff and local emergency medical service providers. It allows LRH to provide ongoing training to clinical support staff, nurses, and physicians so we can continue to provide quality healthcare to the community.” For more information about the new Simulation Lab, please call Heather Newfield, Manager of Education at 603.444.9352.
“LRH is fortunate to have so many generous donors that provide funds so that we can continue to make investments in equipment like this and many other improvements at LRH” stated Gail Clark, Director of Marketing and Community Relations. Anyone interested in learning more about how your gift can help LRH is encouraged to call 603.444.9304.
