AgriBank, AgCountry Farm Credit Services, and Farm Credit Services of Mandan collectively pledged $40,000.00 from the Rural Community Grant Fund to support West River Health Services in acquiring an Advanced Life Support Trauma Simulator. The Rural Grant Fund, established by AgriBank and its North Dakota Farm Credit partners, aims to assist communities affected by mineral development in the Bakken region.

The Trauma Simulators will provide high-quality training that meets the most varied training requirements and needs for rural medicine. The Physicians, Nurses, Residents, ROME Students, EMS professionals, and various community members such as Law Enforcement, Firemen, and Teachers will benefit.

The versatile multi-training equipment is essential not only for the education of Adams County but also for the neighboring communities supported by West River Ambulance. A rural training facility equipped with such a diverse simulator will greatly improve our capacity to serve the entire region.

Our service area is considered "Frontier." Very rural areas are short-staffed and cannot find a fill-in during their absence for training at an urban training center. Medical training of various types is crucial in rural areas. Skills are fine-tuned at home, where we can still be available for the people we serve.

"West River Ambulance extends its sincere gratitude to AgriBank for their generous grant, which has facilitated the acquisition of a Trauma Hal training simulator manikin and the Code Blue Pediatric simulator. These simulators enable our EMS and WRHS medical staff to undergo training on critical life-threatening scenarios, including traumatic amputations with simulated blood loss, utilizing tourniquets and direct pressure dressings, as well as cardiac-related events such as cardiac arrest, CPR, IVs, IO, and chest decompressions. The real-time feedback provided during training enhances our staff's skills and preparedness. We eagerly anticipate extending this training to our community, covering topics such as cardiac arrest and Stop the Bleed. Without the invaluable support from AgriBank, we would not have been able to introduce these highly realistic training tools to our community," states Darrell West, Paramedic and West River Ambulance Manager.

Pictured from left to right:
Darrell West, Paramedic, West River Ambulance Manager
Representatives from Gaumard Trauma Simulators