Bhutan Medical Professionals Train at Phelps Emergency Education Center
Group Brought Back Knowledge to Train Medical First Responders in their
Himalayan Nation
In April, a group of six health care professionals from the Himalayan nation
of Bhutan were trained in emergency medical services and emergency medicine
at the Frank and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education at Phelps Memorial
Hospital in Sleepy Hollow. The group came to the U.S. as part of a project to
improve healthcare in their country.
A key player in bringing the Bhutanese to Phelps was Irvington resident Lisina
Hoch, a major donor with her late husband Frank Hoch, to the emergency services
program at Phelps. Mrs. Hoch is a long-time friend of the grandmother of the
current king of Bhutan and serves as vice president of the Bhutan Foundation.
Bhutan, which became a constitutional monarchy just last year, has steep dirt
roads, no ambulance and no emergency medical services system for its 700,000
citizens.
"The need for medical training in Bhutan is tremendous," says Ms.
Hoch. "And with the superb emergency training center at Phelps, we thought
this would be a good match." After completing the Phelps program, the physician
members of the Bhutanese group proceeded to Hartford Hospital and Brigham and
Women's Hospital in Boston for additional training. They all returned to Bhutan
equipped to train others in their country to serve as medical first responders.
Phelps' Emergency Training Center was originally established in the 1980s and
has provided more than 30,000 training sessions to emergency first responders
throughout the region, across the U.S. and beyond. In addition to the group
from Bhutan, physicians from New Zealand and Iceland have attended courses at
the center.
In August of 2007, the Emergency Training Center moved into a 7,000 square foot
space in the newly constructed Medical Services Building at Phelps and was renamed
the Frank and Lisina Hoch Center for Emergency Education. The facility includes
classrooms, a simulated ambulance, computerized mannequins and two simulated
emergency treatment rooms where emergency medical technicians, firefighters
and healthcare providers can train for real-life crisis situations.
"We are very proud to have been chosen by the Bhutanese government to share
our knowledge of emergency care with their health care professionals,"
said Jeff Meade, director of the center. "After four weeks of training
here, they will be able teach what they have learned to their colleagues in
Bhutan. Ultimately this type of training saves lives."
For information on training opportunities available through the Hoch Center
for Emergency Education, call 914-366-3577.