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ALEX_ The Newsest Member to Join HATC Health Sciences (Video)
Chelsea Dickens
Fri, 01 Jun 2018 20:05:04 EDT
click on the picture to enlarge
Margie Wessels is a-glow Friday afternoon for an interview on the latest and greatest technology to reach the Huron Area Tech Center, ALEX.
ALEX is a communicative software robot designed to simulate a vast number of patients that Health Science students may come across in their professional career. The robot was just introduced to the class about a month ago as part of an orientation process of the design company. Now, ALEX is officially a permanently enrolled student in the Health class at HATC.
"Alex has interchangeable body part," Wessels stated. "Where we can make a male or female. It's all web-based and we have at least eight scenarios built in right to Alex, and one of them being Healthy ALEX, but we can copy our own and create our own out of those."
Essentially, ALEX is able to simulate any circumstance, within reason, of what a Registered Nurse or other health care provider may face. Based on the students career interested they can work with ALEX on any conditions from substance abuse, trauma, asthma, you name it.
Wessels is in control though. Her class iPad is connected to ALEX through a web app that allows her to have full control on all the conditions of ALEX and will allow her to fluctuate them at any point, making students work with real-life patient conditions.
"I have been very grateful," Wessels shared. "For the administration here at the Tech Center, to see the importance of this. They were willing to do this for the students. Students find him remarkable, and when I get excited is when I see the expressions on their faces. To me, it's everything."
ALEX was purchased by a grant for the class. No prices were given by the school, but on the official company webpage, ALEX simulaids are as high as $31,000. It is not clear how rare this type of teaching tool is, but ALEX is the first of their kind in all of the Thumb, and certainly, for all of Huron County.
A video of the interview with Margie and ALEX can be viewed as part of the article.
