Vernon Hosts National Launch Of Virtual Responder Training System

VERNON, CT — Vernon on Wednesday became the first town in Connecticut to use a "cutting edge" virtual reality training system for emergency medical technicians, police officers, firefighters and other medical responders.

Wednesday's demonstration was also considered to be the national launch of the system.

The training system, called VRNA EMS, allows users to immerse themselves in virtual reality to prepare for real-life scenarios, including heart attacks, burns, child birth, lacerations, broken bones, overdoses and more.

In addition to providing training opportunities for a wide variety of scenarios, VRNA EMS assesses a user's response and performance, and tests their knowledge. The content aligns with best practices and response protocols.

VRNA EMS was created by VRSim of East Hartford. Vernon is hosting the national launch of VRNA EMS because the town and Vernon Public Schools have adopted it. The town will use it to train first responders, while Rockville High School will use it to teach students in the allied health and fire technology programs.

"Once again, Vernon leads the way," Mayor Dan Champagne said. "Training and refresher training are important in any public safety organization and we are always in search of creative and innovative solutions to meet today’s ever changing public safety challenges."

Champagne quipped that the system was certainly not something he saw in his days as a police officer.

Vernon is also partnering with VRSim to pursue grants for the research and development of a virtual reality mass casualty training system.

"This game-changing technology exponentially enhances EMTs' and emergency medical responders' capabilities,” said Michael Purcaro, Vernon's town administrator and emergency and risk management director. "This is just the beginning for this kind of technology. The sky is the limit as we search for new ways to apply virtual reality to our ongoing training needs."

VRSim President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Wallace said VRNA EMS could also help address the national shortage of EMTs.

"It is our goal to make the critical training needed to attract a strong EMS workforce,” Wallace said. "VRNA EMS helps to train workers better, quicker and more efficiently. We are hopeful this will help to begin to address the shortage of EMS workers and significantly enhance public safety, both in Vernon and elsewhere."

Virtual reality teaching systems are already in place in the Vernon Superintendent of Schools Joseph P. Macary said. He said the system can be used to train would-be firefighters and EMTs and even in biology classes for dissections.

“Virtual technology systems are the next evolution of teaching for all learners,” Macary said.

Purcaro said he envisions using virtual reality as a tool for large-scale training exercises involving multiple towns and agencies.

"To have the ability to have multiple people working in the same virtual training environment would enable us to do large-scale training exercises more frequently and at a fraction of the cost in time and money it takes to plan and execute such an event," Purcaro said.

Vernon organized two large-scale regional training exercises in the past that took several years and thousands of dollars to setup.

"To be able to carry out such an exercise with multiple players in multiple places simultaneously would greatly enhance preparedness training across the region, state and nation," Purcaro said.

Purcaro said the system cost $8,000 and was paid for via a shared service account for the school system and municipal government.