Mannequins to train medics
A local company developed female training dummies for the Army.
The U.S. Army has allowed women to serve in combat for about two years now, opening up new challenges for male medics who have had little training in how to treat wounded women on the battlefield.
Orlando-based Simetri has come up with a potential solution.
The company has developed a rubbery prosthetic-like overlay that includes female body parts for its male mannequins, which it first provided to the military in 2016.
“By providing a female mannequin, you get rid of the awe factor in a young kid of, ‘Oh, it’s a breast,’” U.S. Army Master Sgt. Erik McConnell said. “All patients need to be touched and treated the same way. If there are broken bones, I need to touch them, and we have people afraid to touch.”
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta removed the military’s ban on women serving in combat roles in January 2013, an order carried out in 2016.
At the time, it was somewhat of a controversial decision, with longtime military veterans saying it would be a bad idea.
As of May, more than 600 women have joined combat units, according to a Military Times story.
“The military has been integrating females into combat roles on the front lines,” McConnell said. “In previous combat arenas, we didn’t have that.”
A standing contract with the U.S. Army’s Research, Development and Engineering Command, known as RDECOM, often seeks technological methods of closing training gaps. The treatment of women on the battlefield fit that category.
Simetri landed a part of that R&D contract in 2016, sending mannequins they developed to the U.S. military as a prototype.
They behave, in some ways, as humans do.
They occasionally blink and some have chests that rise and fall, simulating a breathing patient, along with red fluid running through a vein-like system.
Some have open wounds, mimicking a soldier that has been hit by a bullet, grenade or explosive.
But up until now, all the training mannequins were equipped with male genitalia and body parts.
“They are missing those training opportunities because they are not being presented with both genders,” Simetri CEO Angela Alban said. “The Army saw a need to explore whether we can improve medical outcomes for women.”
The zip-on overlay, made of a rubbery prosthetic material created through the company’s proprietary formula, includes a vaginal opening and a pair of breasts.
“A lot of it has to do with soldiers who don’t want to expose the breasts because they are afraid of sexual harassment,” he said.
“The problem with that is you are now treating a person blindly.”