A visit by Navy Bureau of Medicine leaders to Sanford Health’s Virtual Care Center in Sioux Falls is leading to an immersive experience.
“Everything that’s been demonstrated and shown between the Virtual Care Center and the emphasis on reaching these (rural) communities has been fantastic,” said Lt. Grant Hungerford.
Hungerford, originally from rural Minnesota, serves as a nursing professional at Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command in Portsmouth, Virginia.
“We really enjoyed the VR (virtual reality) room. We got to experience some VR simulations to go through some clinical judgement and clinical practice models there which has been really great. Of course, touring the simulation trucks was a lot of fun too,” said Hungerford.
Sanford director of simulation and pre-hospital care Travis Spier, MSN, RN, is walking the sailors through a variety of spaces the organization uses to educate caregivers all over Sanford’s footprint.
“We actually travel throughout the Midwest supporting Sanford and non-Sanford facilities doing clinical education,” said Spier.
Spier says giving Navy officials a tour is “important. It provides individuals that are in clinical situations or clinical roles in that military environment the opportunity to tap into the specialty care that Sanford provides.”
‘An area that desperately needs the virtual touch’
Providing access to care in rural communities is close to Hungerford’s heart.
“It’s still an area that desperately needs the virtual touch to expand access to care out there. Otherwise, it’s still a frontier that hasn’t got a lot of resources available to them,” said Hungerford.
Making sure resources are available to military members is another priority at Sanford.
“Kind of the hallmark of the commitment is to support anybody that’s willing to serve our nation and protect our nation,” said Spier.
Head of military and veteran affairs Paul Weckman, a retired Navy captain, says the organization wants to hire, care for and work with our military members and veterans.
“Here’s an opportunity for us to showcase what we do here at Sanford and maybe the Navy will take a look at this and also want to come and maybe again have a partnership with us as well,” said Weckman.
Collaboration is already underway with local Airmen.
“We’ve worked with the South Dakota Air National Guard providing on-site education as well as clinical immersions into the hospital environment. We’ve also been on base and actually provided education and hands-on opportunities for about 400 of their aviators and staff that support the base,” said Spier.
Weckman adds, “anytime we can support any of the military branches to increase readiness, Sanford is always going to be there.”
Training that leads to experience and better outcomes for patients in the Midwest and beyond.
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Posted In Rural Health, Sioux Falls, Veterans, Virtual Care
