Deborah Sutherland, CEO of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), speaks with U.S. Sen. John McCain about the military training capabilities of the facility’s trauma operating room.
Three U.S. senators stopped by the CAMLS trauma operating room on their way to a town hall meeting held Monday morning, July 30, at the state-of-the-art USF Health medical simulation and learning center.
Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, all members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, were in Tampa to highlight the impact of the defense cuts scheduled to take place next year under sequestration. The town hall meeting at CAMLS was hosted by the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce and opening remarks were made by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who emphasized that MacDill Air Force Base is one of the largest economic engines in the Tampa Bay region.
Before the town hall began, the senators meet briefly with CAMLS CEO Deborah Sutherland and Dr. Luis Llerena, Medical Director for the Surgical & Interventional Training Center at CAMLS. It was an opportunity to show off the capabilities of the first-of-its-kind trauma OR, which can reverse the calming effect of ambient environments to create a disruptive, stressful environment based on military sound and video.
USF, which serves a large population of student veterans, is surrounded by a military presence. Both the U.S Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which have led the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, maintain their headquarters at MacDill AFB.
CAMLS intends to work with military medical personnel to optimize the use of its high-tech trauma OR to advance the training of medical teams who serve in the battlefield.
“We still have improvements to make in the treatment of our wounded soldiers, particularly in the Golden Hour,” McCain said. “So, I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen here and the training you will be doing.”
USF Health’s Dr. Sutherland, center, with U.S. Senators John McCain, Lindsey Graham (right) and Kelly Ayotte (back left).
Sen. McCain is greeted by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn (left) and Chuck Black (center), chair of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.
Dr. Luis Llerena, medical director of the Surgical & Interventional Training Center at USF Health CAMLS, welcomes Sen. McCain to the trauma operating room.
Photos by Eric Younghans/USF Health Communications
