Staff Writer
HOULTON — Hollywood may have its “Six Million Dollar Man,” but last week, Houlton had a $230,000 man visiting Houlton Regional Hospital.
The man — or rather mannequin — is part of a state-of-the-art Human Patient Simulator Program organized by LifeFlight of Maine. The LifeFlight Foundation, partnering with Maine EMS, Maine Health Access Foundation and the Department of Public Safety, set up the trauma and critical outreach program in 2006 to offer real-life training in a managed environment.
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
IN TRAINING — Lisa Mooers, an ER nurse at Houlton Regional Hospital, performs CPR on a simulated pediatric patient last week while, from left, Glen Targonski and Mark Boutilier perform other emergency services. Carol Jordan, a flight nurse with LifeFlight of Maine, looks on. At right: practicing skills on a simulated adult patient.
“Our mission is to provide education,” explained Carol Jordan, an RN with LifeFlight’s Bangor crew. “We spend a week at each of the 39 hospitals in the state.”
With LifeFlight crew members acting as facilitators, the mannequin is put to use in 30- to 45-minute scenarios that simulate real-life situations. The program is mobile, housed in a large RV that’s been reconfigured as a hospital trauma room.
“The training isn’t a pass or fail type of thing,” added Jordan. “It’s a place to come and practice skills.”
The high-tech mannequin, nicknamed Stan D. Ardman (or Standard Man), is a computerized adult or pediatric patient that’s able to blink, speak and breathe. It has a heartbeat and a pulse and six arterial bleeding sites. Stan is also able to mimic human responses to procedures like CPR, intubation, intravenous medication and more. 
Photo courtesy of LifeFlight of Maine
“He’s full of a lot of technology,” said Richard Simpson, manager and clinical database administrator for the Human Patient Simulator program. “It’s has some pretty amazing applications … that we’re able to share across the state.”
Trish Murray, emergency room manager at Houlton Regional, said they’ve had the simulator training once last year. She said they’ve enjoyed working with the LifeFlight facilitators.
“It’s great for new staff,” she said. “They get more practice in a safe and controlled environment before they have to deal with the real thing.”
Lisa Mooers, an emergency room nurse at Houlton Regional, agreed.
“When these real life situations come through the door, we’ll have been able to work through them before,” she said.
Mark Boutilier and Glen Targonski, two members of the Houlton Ambulance crew, were among those who participated in the training last week.
“This is very life-like as to what happens,” said Boutilier. “And it’s very beneficial to be able to do this type of training, especially with a pediatric patient. Luckily, we don’t see a lot of them, but when we do we’ll be able to be better prepared.”
“It’s great to be able to practice any type of scenario,” said Targonski. “If there’s anything we have a question about or need to practice, we can do that.”
“It’s something I wish we could do more often,” added Boutilier.
Pioneer Times Photo/Sarah Berthiaume
EMERGENCY SERVICES — Mark Boutilier, a paramedic with the Houlton Ambulance Service, checks on a simulated pediatric trauma patient last week during special training offered through LifeFlight of Maine.
