SIM-NE receives nearly $6,300 during Omaha Gives

Contributors to the annual Omaha Gives event gave nearly $6,300 in gifts to support Simulation in Motion-Nebraska (SIM-NE) at UNMC.

Omaha Gives, the community’s only annual 24-hour charitable challenge, was held May 20 and is organized by the Omaha Community Foundation to raise support for nonprofits. UNMC and the University of Nebraska Foundation partnered to promote support of SIM-NE because of its statewide role during the health pandemic.

“All of us with SIM-NE, together with the health care professionals we support across the state, are thankful for this support received during Omaha Gives,” said Doug Dekker, SIM-NE program manager.

Part of the Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning (iEXCEL), SIM-NE is a mobile training system that provides statewide training for the providers of rural emergency medical services and health professionals in hospitals — normally using four, 44-foot-long, customized trucks. Since the coronavirus outbreak, it has shifted its training to online and video sessions to protect its instructors and trainees while still providing critical educational training.

SIM-NE recently held three virtual training events attended by more than 1,600 health care providers. It held COVID-19 training that targeted rural emergency medical services providers, critical access and rural regional hospitals as well as rural primary care providers.

The events focused on patient surge preparation at hospitals and EMS leadership. It also dedicated an event to primary care providers and addressed the rapidly changing rural health care environment as it relates to COVID-19.