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SALT LAKE CITY — Paramedics and firefighters with the Unified Fire Authority have a new training partner to help hone their lifesaving skills: Hal.
But Hal doesn't respond to calls with the firefighters. Hal is a high-fidelity robot that simulates heart attacks, bleeding and vomiting for medical training.
"The crew is immersed in the scenario," said UFA training officer and paramedic E.J. Hinterman.
On Wednesday, paramedics and firefighters worked on a heart attack scenario with Hal to recertify their medical skills with the most realistic training available.
"It does absolutely everything the normal human will do except for actually walk around," said Hinterman.
When the firefighters first arrived, the robot answered questions and told the firefighters his chest hurt. That feedback from the robot enables the training team to be in another room. Hal also displays a variety of realistic symptoms.
"You check for a pulse and you feel it," Hinterman said. "He's looking at you and blinking. He's speaking to you and answering questions."
Hal simulates everything from arterial bleeding in a limb that needs a tourniquet, to breathing complications that require a breathing tube. The robot can recreate many combinations of medical conditions.
"It's better than anything I've trained with before," said UFA paramedic Matt Byington.
That makes a difference, he said, that translates into lives saved.
"It's hard to make the training match the field," Byington said. "I think this helps bring that together."
"There are so many variables in the real world," Hinterman said. "You can never replicate all of those variables in any other way. This is as close as we can come."
When it comes to heart attacks, first responders urge everyone to take a free online CPR education program called "Push to Survive."
"We want everybody to learn," Hinterman said. "Watch the videos and practice on a couch cushion. You don't need to have a CPR mannequin."
Each year in the U.S., 400,000 people have heart attacks outside of hospitals, according to Push to Survive, and 92 percent of those people do not survive. But, by recognizing the signs of sudden cardiac arrest and acting quickly with CPR, nearly half of them can survive and return to a normal life.
"CPR before we arrive: anything is better than nothing," Hinterman said.
With more advanced training with the robot and the Push to Survive movement, Hinterman believes more lives can be saved.
For more information on "Push to Survive," go to www.pushtosurvive.org.
