CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi Medical Center hosted a 'Classroom on Wheels' day for Emergency Medical Service students at Del Mar College Thursday. The simulation ambulance gave students the opportunity to see real life situations in a mannequin.
Meet Charlie: He serves as the latest technology for young professionals on their way out into the real world of an EMS.
"His pupils react to light," said Lacy Whitt, an Emergency Training Specialist, "We can make his pupils different sizes. He bleeds. He can have venous or arterial bleeding, so I can make blood shoot all the way across the ambulance. He has actual breath sounds. That's indescribable for students to get that kind of experience. Other than live people, there's nothing that compares to this."
He's second to the best practice a student can get right next to a real-life patient. Before Charlie was available, practice wasn't always as effective.
"These students are used to working on plastic hard mannequins," Whitt added. "Think of large Barbie. They have stiff joints then you can intubate them. They don't react".
Charlie offers all kinds of different patients, even some EMS students might not see in South Texas.
"It's definitely possible to expand your level of experience and knowledge," said Maxwell Manson, a firefighter and paramedic for the Corpus Christi Fire Department.
Charlie can be set up at any Corpus Christi area EMS school or facility.
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