Van Buren School Board approved the purchase of two simulators for their CTE students Wednesday night.
Director of Schools Cheryl Cole said Alex Pro Patient Simulator and the Ambulance Simulator will total some $86,000 from the system’s $124,000 Supporting Access in Rural Counties Grant (SPARC).
“The ambulance simulator, I have actually seen it in action,” Cole said. “And it’s just like the box of an ambulance and the kids will do whatever they need to do maneuver the ambulance, and work on patients that they need to work on. I mean it’s just like the real thing.”
The Alex Pro Patient Simulator will help students learn critical thinking, decision-making & priority-setting skills and conduct initial patient assessments. Cole said that both simulators will help students gain hands-on experience that they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. She said those skills are also aided by their new teacher Anthony Nash, who is a paramedic.
“So he’s very familiar with these things,” Cole said. “We do miss our old one, but it’s really good that we have someone with this experience that can teach our students.”
She said that the SPARC grant was divided out to each CTE program, with the most going to Health Science equipment.
