The Rural Health Innovation Collaborative (RHIC, pronounced “rick”) visits small rural hospitals throughout the Wabash Valley and 14 other sites scattered from Evansville to Fort Wayne in a mobile simulation unit capable of training healthcare providers and students on how to treat 45 different medical incidents.
That is, it did until its old ambulance, a 2002 model purchased eight years ago from the Terre Haute Fire Department, gave up the ghost. On Thursday, Jack Jaeger, RHIC executive director, and Union Health Foundation President Joel Harbaugh introduced a shiny new mobile simulation unit, a refurbished 2015 ambulance acquired thanks to a $50,000 gift from the foundation.
“The main point is the small hospitals in rural areas just can’t afford the kind of resources that we have,” Jaeger said.