This week we are hosting our first course to provide training to our staff and volunteers in the aviation program to improve their skills when transporting patients. With the recent expansion of our aviation program, with new planes and more emergency air rescues each year, we wanted to improve the medical training of our pilots, staff, and volunteers so that we can ensure that patients being flown in our planes are provided the best care that we can give.
Collaboration with A Tu Lado
To do this training, Mano a Mano collaborated with A Tu Lado, an organization that has provided formal EMT training and other emergency medical education training in Venezuela. This week A Tu Lado founders Ethan Forsgren and Terence Steinberg traveled to Bolivia to learn more about Mano a Mano and lay the groundwork for more formal EMT training later this year. Mary Ann McNeil, the director of the department of emergency medicine at the University of Minnesota, also traveled to Bolivia as part of the team.
Training course with A Tu Lado on Wednesday, Feb 8
Training Course with SAR and Mano a Mano
Here is a brief description of the training course this week, taken from A Tu Lado’s website (you can read the full update here):
A Tu Lado coordinated an afternoon of training for Mano a Mano volunteers and SAR Bolivia (Search and Rescue), a volunteer EMS service in Cochabamba, who will serve as EMTs in Apoyo Aereo’s evacuation services. It was a brief introduction for these individuals to the full-length training program we will launch in June. The curricula included a presentation on flight physiology, presented by Mary Ann McNeil, who has over 25 years of experience as a flight paramedic; airway adjunct training, including King Airway; backboarding, patient assessment & extrication; intubation of cow trachea and disection of cow hearts and lungs to cover basic anatomy; and intraosseous training conducted on turkey legs.
Mano a Mano is always trying to provide the best possible programs in Bolivia, and we are really excited about this collaboration with A Tu Lado to improve our aviation program! A Tu Lado will be posting updates during their trip on their website if you’re interested in what they are working on.
Photos from the Training Course
Check out more photos from this weeks’ course here.
