Newark High School Gets Cutting-Edge Ambulance Simulator

NEWARK, NJ — A high school in Newark is now the only one in New Jersey to have a cutting-edge piece of training equipment for future EMTs, officials recently announced.

Elected officials and educators unveiled the new, life-size ambulance simulator at Essex County Newark Tech last month. It will be used to train students for future careers as emergency medical technicians.

Here’s what it does, according to county officials:

“The ambulance simulator is the same size as the back of an ambulance and enables students to learn to care for patients in the same amount of space in which they would be working. The simulator is enclosed and moves on pneumatics simulating road conditions. It provides the most realistic training experience as it mirrors very closely what students will encounter in the field. To engage the entire class, the simulator is equipped with cameras that capture a video of the activity taking place inside the simulator. The video is displayed in the classroom so all students can watch the medical simulators from within the ambulance.”

The only other school to have this simulator is Rowan University, county officials noted.

In addition to the simulator, the school also recently purchased other state-of-the-art equipment for the EMT program, including SimMan, SimMom, and SimBaby. The highly advanced simulators are usually found in medical schools, and can “scream, cry and vomit.” Meanwhile, students can take a pulse and blood pressure and tap spinal fluid on the model. The female model can also be programmed to give birth.

The new equipment is just one piece of a larger training network that taps the resources of the tech school, RWJBarnabas Health, Hackensack Meridian Health and University Hospital.

Students fulfill their emergency room clinical requirements at RWJBarnabas Health facilities and University Hospital and the EMT training with Hackensack Meridian. These hours are required for certification, and will give students the opportunity to be mentored in local hospitals.

It’s not easy, students say.

“This is one of the most demanding and rigorous courses I have taken at Newark Tech,” said Skylie Ramirez, a senior at the school.

But every time she and her classmates pass a test or earn a certification, they also get a rewarding feeling, Ramirez added.

“I’m looking forward to being able to care for people when they are faced with life and death situations, because this is enabling us to make decisions when every second counts,” she said.

Essex County Schools of Technology Superintendent James Pedersen credited county officials with providing the funds to purchase the equipment and implement the program.

Newark Tech Principal Jenabu Williams said the new ambulance simulator will give students some hands-on training that they won’t be able to get anywhere else.

“We are empowering our students to succeed and gain expertise in the career field they want to pursue,” Williams said.

The school’s partners agreed.

“We are currently at a time where we have the largest shortage of EMS workers in the history of public safety,” said Anthony Raffino, assistant vice president of RWJBarnabas Health Mobile Health.

“This is a great program and I am super-impressed with the setup here at Newark Tech,” Raffino added.

“It there ever was a need in public safety to be filled, currently it is for EMS workers,” said Mark Bober, director of EMS at Hackensack Meridian Health.

“We are proud of our partnership with Newark Tech and are excited about the school already talking about expanding the program,” he added.

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