Rhode Island Hospital to train Army Reserve medical teams

[Sydnie]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Army Reserve medical teams will be training today at Rhode Island Hospital on how to treat battlefield casualties.

The training session is part of a national pilot program to determine whether military doctors, nurses and medics can be efficiently trained at civilian medical centers.

According to a hospital spokeswoman, the medical teams will be working at a simulated battlefield aid station under low-light conditions. They will work on mannequins capable of simulated breathing and speaking.

Hospital officials say each team’s efforts will be videotaped and critiqued.

U-S Senator Jack Reed is expected to visit the training session around 12:30 p-m.

http://ww2.wpri.com/Global/story.asp?S=4455293

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What's up with this? Why are local hospitals doing this type of training? Why wouldn't the military do this at a military facility instead of a local hospital that is usually already taxed with patients? RI Hospital is the main hospital in RI and it takes most of the trauma patients in the state. Granted, these training sessions were not on real patients, but is it much of a stretch to see that happening sometime in the future? The lines are blurring just a bit too much for my comfort. Anyone else have any thoughts on this?