Glen Cove EMS workers to train on human cadavers, rare for first responders
Glen Cove EMS workers this fall will train on human cadavers for the first time. Credit: Debbie Egan-Chin
Glen Cove EMS workers will receive specialized training this fall with actual human cadavers — a rare opportunity for volunteer first responders.
The Glen Cove City Council authorized Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck to enter into an agreement late last month with Experience Anatomy LLC, a North Carolina-based anatomy education provider, to pay for the temporary transfer of human cadavers to Glen Cove for a lab training exercise in October.
This is the first time Glen Cove EMS is having its volunteers work on human cadavers, a practice seldom done on Long Island, Glen Cove officials said.
"It’s something that has not been done on Long Island, I think, much at all," said Dr. David Silver, the medical director for Glen Cove EMS and a physician at Glen Cove Hospital. "The idea was to bring the providers of Glen Cove the opportunity to practice the skills they possess, to better the care they're going to have for the residents of Glen Cove."
Mannequins are typically used for EMS trainings but "are only so realistic," said Silver, who will oversee the exercise. Putting a breathing tube in a plastic mannequin, he said, is "nothing like putting a breathing tube in an actual person."
Other procedures, like inserting an IV into the humerus or the shin bone — which are done to administer lifesaving fluids when veins are difficult to access — are better practiced on actual human bones and skin, Silver said.
Jamie Decker, the founder and CEO of Experience Anatomy, said in a July 10 email that Glen Cove requested an estimate for services but noted the company’s fees only cover costs associated with logistics like the acquisition, transportation and preservation of cadavers. Buying and selling human tissue is not legal, Decker said.
The initial payment to the company totaled $10,700, according to the June 25 city council agenda. Panzenbeck said the funding will come from the EMS training line in the city's budget.
At least one complete cadaver and another that is partial will be used across three nights of training in October at the agency’s headquarters, said Christopher DeMetropolis, supervisor of Glen Cove EMS.
He said part of the motivation to hold the training is centered on retention.
Glen Cove officials said logistics like a cold storage location and the process of returning the bodies are still being ironed out.
Volunteer-led firehouses have struggled with recruitment and dwindling ranks, Newsday has reported, and DeMetropolis said it is "no mystery that retention for volunteer agencies within the state, within the country, is taking a hit."
While doctors and other medical professionals may have experience on cadavers, it is normally not reserved for volunteer EMS workers, he said.
"This is something that really has never been done on our scope, with a small volunteer organization on Long Island," DeMetropolis said.
When anatomy trainings take place, Silver said participants are expected to give a high level of respect to the individuals who donated their body for science.
"It's a rite that very few people get to experience," Silver said of the EMS workers who will take part in the training, adding there will be "a moment of silence for the people who took the time and will to donate their body to science so that they may, in the future, save others."
Glen Cove EMS workers will receive specialized training this fall with actual human cadavers — a rare opportunity for volunteer first responders.
The Glen Cove City Council authorized Mayor Pamela Panzenbeck to enter into an agreement late last month with Experience Anatomy LLC, a North Carolina-based anatomy education provider, to pay for the temporary transfer of human cadavers to Glen Cove for a lab training exercise in October.
This is the first time Glen Cove EMS is having its volunteers work on human cadavers, a practice seldom done on Long Island, Glen Cove officials said.
"It’s something that has not been done on Long Island, I think, much at all," said Dr. David Silver, the medical director for Glen Cove EMS and a physician at Glen Cove Hospital. "The idea was to bring the providers of Glen Cove the opportunity to practice the skills they possess, to better the care they're going to have for the residents of Glen Cove."
Mannequins are typically used for EMS trainings but "are only so realistic," said Silver, who will oversee the exercise. Putting a breathing tube in a plastic mannequin, he said, is "nothing like putting a breathing tube in an actual person."
Other procedures, like inserting an IV into the humerus or the shin bone — which are done to administer lifesaving fluids when veins are difficult to access — are better practiced on actual human bones and skin, Silver said.
Jamie Decker, the founder and CEO of Experience Anatomy, said in a July 10 email that Glen Cove requested an estimate for services but noted the company’s fees only cover costs associated with logistics like the acquisition, transportation and preservation of cadavers. Buying and selling human tissue is not legal, Decker said.
The initial payment to the company totaled $10,700, according to the June 25 city council agenda. Panzenbeck said the funding will come from the EMS training line in the city's budget.
At least one complete cadaver and another that is partial will be used across three nights of training in October at the agency’s headquarters, said Christopher DeMetropolis, supervisor of Glen Cove EMS.
He said part of the motivation to hold the training is centered on retention.
Glen Cove officials said logistics like a cold storage location and the process of returning the bodies are still being ironed out.
Volunteer-led firehouses have struggled with recruitment and dwindling ranks, Newsday has reported, and DeMetropolis said it is "no mystery that retention for volunteer agencies within the state, within the country, is taking a hit."
While doctors and other medical professionals may have experience on cadavers, it is normally not reserved for volunteer EMS workers, he said.
"This is something that really has never been done on our scope, with a small volunteer organization on Long Island," DeMetropolis said.
When anatomy trainings take place, Silver said participants are expected to give a high level of respect to the individuals who donated their body for science.
"It's a rite that very few people get to experience," Silver said of the EMS workers who will take part in the training, adding there will be "a moment of silence for the people who took the time and will to donate their body to science so that they may, in the future, save others."
Glen Cove EMS cadaver training
- Glen Cove's volunteer EMS will hold a three-day training exercise this fall using real human cadavers.
- The training will prepare first responders for procedures that are not as accurately practiced on mannequins.
- Glen Cove EMS officials said the training is among the first of its kind for a volunteer organization on Long Island.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
