Press Release
The National Emergency Medical Services Preparedness Initiative Launches "Zero Hour: America’s Medic"
Cambridge, MA — Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center Fellow Arnold Bogis provided policy analysis during the development of "Zero Hour: America's Medic," a video game-based learning tool recently released by George Washington University's National Emergency Medical Services Preparedness Initiative (NEMSPI). "Zero Hour" is designed to train and exercise Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and other first responder communities through a series of virtual simulations based on planning scenarios developed by the Department of Homeland Security. When playing the game and confronted with biological, explosive, chemical and earthquake disasters, first responders must meet the challenges they would face during an actual event. This enables players to practice skills in triage and operational management in real time. Participants can earn professional continuing education credits for playing the game.
"This is the first-of-its-kind training tool. The game allows the player to review and evaluate themselves and gauge areas that require more skill training," said Gregg Lord, Associate Director and Co- investigator of NEMSPI.
The program was created with input and support from a wide range of subject matter experts. Many of the pressing emergency response issues were identified by EMS chiefs from the largest U.S. metropolitan areas during two summits hosted by NEMSPI in 2006 and 2007 and translated into content for "Zero Hour."
"We are very excited to have spearheaded this project because we believe that it truly is a new day in training, skills development and practice," said Lord. "By creating a realistic and medically accurate environment, it enables first responders to learn and exercise their skills."
Serious virtual gaming, such as "Zero Hour," has the potential to revolutionize first responder training and continuing education programs by offering a cost-effective complement to traditional education and exercising. Some day rather than running one large-scale live action exercise at massive expense, local, state and federal jurisdictions may host virtual disaster drills using massive multiplayer games.
"This has been an amazing project to be a part of because it represents a new era of skills training for all kinds of emergency personnel. We are confident that by providing more opportunities for first responders to practice these critical skills, we will have a more prepared emergency response force working for the citizens of our country," said Kim Acquaviva, NEMSPI Co-investigator and assistant professor at George Washington University's Department of Nursing Education.
The game is available for download from NEMSPI's learning management system. Funding for this project came from the Department of Homeland Security. "Zero Hour: America's Medic" was constructed by Virtual Heroes, Inc. of Raleigh, NC.
For more information or to download the program, go to the National Emergency Medical Services Preparedness Initiative's Web site at http://www.nemspi.org.