In a one-of-a-kind in the nation program, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital is partnering with Bay Area firefighters to improve continuity of care for kids facing medical emergencies.

This week on September 25 and 26, nearly 200 area firefighters will receive advanced pediatric emergency training from the Pediatric Advance Workshop With Simulation (PAWWS) program at one of the top teaching hospitals in the country. Pediatric intensive care doctors, emergency department physicians and nurses from the hospital will observe and train the firefighters on the technical and behavioral skills required to save kids’ lives. The sessions will help firefighters hone their skills in pediatric assessment and resuscitation, as well as in family-centered care.

“We will be taking actual pediatric emergency codes that the firefighters use and simulating them with our high-tech, lifelike pediatric mannequins,” said Lynda Knight, RN, who developed the PAWWS program at Packard Children’s. “These are real-life, real-time emergency scenarios, and the firefighters will jump into action with all of their own equipment. We want it to be as real as possible.”

Firefighters understand that the needs of pediatric patients are usually different from those of an adult. That’s why they’re excited to partner with the PAWWS program to be certain those first precious minutes of a pediatric emergency are not lost. “The simulations offered by PAWWS are just like those given to our doctors and nurses,” added Knight, who is the resuscitation educator for Packard Children’s Center for Nursing Excellence and the director of the hospital’s AHA training center, and part of a team that trains more than 1000 healthcare providers from throughout the Western region every year. “It’s a realistic way to practice and certify life-saving clinical, technical and decision-making skills without risk to a real child.”

About Packard Children’s Hospital

Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford is an internationally recognized 311-bed hospital and leading regional medical network providing a full complement of services for the health of children and expectant mothers. Together, our world-class Stanford Medicine doctors, nurses and staff deliver innovative, nurturing care and extraordinary outcomes in every pediatric and obstetric specialty. Packard Children’s is annually ranked as one of the nation’s finest by U.S. News & World Report and the only Northern California children’s hospital with specialty programs ranked in the U.S. News Top 10. Learn more about our full range of preeminent programs at lpch.org and the Packard Children’s Health Alliance at PCHA.org. Like us on Facebook, watch us on YouTube and follow us on Twitter.