Peoria County Sheriff's Office: February 26

On February 26, OLLI members traveled to the Peoria County Sheriff's Office for a private tour of the jail.

After a brief demonstration by deputies and K-9 officer Beny, Peoria County Sheriff Mike McCoy took our group through the administration offices, deputy meeting room, and a special area that houses an interactive training machine.

The Active Interactive Systems (AIS) machine programs a variety of shooting scenarios, then plays them out in real time, requiring officers to approach shooting situations appropriately and determine when/when not to shoot. Officers are then critiqued afterwards as to how they responded to the scenario. Sheriff McCoy demonstrated the program twice -- and hit the shooter with 100% accuracy.

Sheriff McCoy also led the group through the main control room, the intake area, sallyport, evidence/crime lab, and a prisoner pod. OLLI members were stunned to learn that the jail has been full since three weeks after the 1999 addition (which added 144 beds) was opened.

Kudos and thanks to Sheriff McCoy for the informative tour!

For more information about the Peoria County Sheriff's Office, visit:
www.peoriacounty.org/sheriff.

Becoming Edvard Munch: February 24

Our first trip of Spring 2009 marked another OLLI first -- an intergenerational experience with Bradley University undergraduate students!

We left Peoria early in the morning of February 24 to drive to the Art Institute of Chicago, where we had tickets for the special exhibition, "Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth."

OLLI members were accompanied by nearly 20 undergraduates and their art professor Heather Brammeier, who gave a very informative narrative of Munch, his life, and his work, during the drive.

Before entering the Munch exhibit, OLLI members had the opportunity to hear a lecture by the curator, Jay A. Clarke. During the lecture, she discussed the myths that traditionally defined Munch: his mental instability and the influence of contemporary art. Clarke, who also provided the commentary in our audio tour, challenged these myths by presenting his works in relation to those of his European comtemporaries.

OLLI thanks Ms. Brammeier and her students for a wonderful day of intergenerational learning -- based upon the comments from the students and members, it's something we'll definitely try again in the future!

For more information about the Art Institute of Chicago, visit www.artic.edu/aic/.

Advanced Medical Transport: January 29 & February 3, 2009

During two separate trips to Advanced Medical Transport, OLLI members were treated to a behind-the-scenes look at the non-profit ambulance service. Sharon Kennedy, AMT's Director of Community Relations, led our tours, which included stops in the fleet garage, training rooms, and communications center.

AMT's corporate headquarters is located in a 30,000 square-foot facility at 1718 N. Sterling Avenue, Peoria, Illinois. The organization operates the largest ambulance fleet in Central Illinois, with 25 advanced life support ambulances and two specially equipped critical care/neonatal units.

According to Ms. Kennedy, the ambulances log approximately 750,000 miles annually. AMT purchases approximately four new ambulances each year and often donates the old ambulances to area rescue squads.

The communications center, which is equipped with a computer-aided dispatch system, receives and dispatches ambulance calls 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The dispatch system automatically locates the paramadic unit nearest to the scene, which results in the closest unit being dispatched within seconds of receiving a call.

Ms. Kennedy said AMT's response times to emergency scenes consistently exceed national standards for a High Performance EMS System. In urban emergencies,
AMT ambulances arrive in 5 minutes most of the time, and in less than 9 minutes at least 90% of the time.

OLLI would like to thank AMT and Ms. Kennedy for providing two highly informative tours of their facility.

For more information about Advanced Medical Transport, please visit www.advancedmedicaltransport.org.

University of Illinois College of Medicine: January 28, 2009

As part of the learning trip to the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria (UICOMP), OLLI members had a rare opportunity to see a demonstration of a human patient simulator.

Located in UICOMP's Donald E. Rager, M.D. Clinical Skills Laboratory, the simulator suite houses an entire family of simulators -- adult, pediatric, and infant. The computerized simulators blink, speak, breathe, and mimic complex human physiological changes in tens of thousands of combinations.

The simulators respond automatically to medical interventions and record a data log of all events. UICOMP Advancement Coordinator Jim Burwitz, who led OLLI members on the tour, said the feedback is essential for a doctor's learning experience. After the training session, doctors can watch their performance with video playback and vitals on-screen in real time.

Mr. Burwitz also took OLLI members to the UICOMP library, which provides a wealth of medical information for doctors and the public.

OLLI thanks Mr. Burwitz and his colleagues at UICOMP for a wonderful learning experience.

For more information about the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria, visit www.uicomp.uic.edu.