UNMC and the C-STARS-Omaha program hosted the dean of the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine for a tour on Sept. 7.
UNMC, Nebraska Medicine and the School of Aerospace Medicine collaborate on the Center for Sustainment of Trauma Readiness Skills Omaha unit, with its expertise in biopreparedness training.
Dean Melanie Lazarus, EdD, oversees 6,000 students and 250 faculty for the aerospace medical school, which is part of the 711th Human Performance Wing, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Dr. Lazarus, who holds a Master of Public Health degree, toured the Davis Global Center and the facilities for the Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning, or iEXCEL, program.
Ben Stobbe, assistant vice chancellor of clinical simulation for iEXCEL, led the tour along with C-STARS Omaha staff, showcasing the latest in clinical simulation technology at one end of the technological spectrum down to an austere field training room at the other.
Stobbe led Dr. Lazarus through the Training, Simulation and Quarantine Center and showed her the ISTARI patient isolation care system for high-risk infection cases.
Dr. Lazarus said she has been touring the School of Aerospace Medicine’s satellite units this year. C-STARS-Omaha and UNMC was her last site visit, she said, “so we saved the best for last.”
She said she was blown away by UNMC’s “amazing” facilities, saying she had worked with clinical simulation for 15 years but had “never seen a facility like this.”
“I’m excited about the partnership that we have with you all,” Dr. Lazarus said, “because you really are cutting edge. UNMC, of course, has the history of being the best in biocontainment, but to actually see it in person has been a phenomenal experience.”