Recently a group of Caterpillar employees toured the PolyTraumatic Rehabilitation Center at Hunter Holmes Mcguire VA Medical Center in Richmond, Virginia. While touring the facility, they met with Dr. Shane McNamee, chief of physical medicine and rehabilitation at the Department of Veterans Affairs, who is leading a program designed to accelerate rehabilitation and job placement for wounded veterans. One idea that came up was the opportunity for some of these warriors to find employment operating heavy equipment. Enter Cat® Simulators.
Simulator training provides a way for operators to gain familiarization and understanding of machine controls and applications; and learn proper operating procedures before training on actual machines. The simulated environment affords a safe place to learn and make mistakes without harm to people, machines or the job site. Simulation training seemed the right first step for the program.
Calls to key leaders at Caterpillar and Simformotion LLC, the licensee for Cat Simulators, resulted in immediate action. "The opportunity to give back to the veterans who protect and serve our country is an honor. Our ability to design and manufacture training simulators is a freedom we might not have someplace else," said Simformation CEO Ken Pflederer.
Along with a Cat hydraulic excavator simulator, a Simformotion instructor arrived at the PolyTraumatic Rehab Center. More than 10 occupational, physical, kinesthetic and speech therapists were trained on the simulator. They'll soon begin instructing interested polytrauma veterans on a 50-100 hour training program on the excavator simulator. As the vets get ready for work on real iron, the rehab center will turn to Cat® dealer Carter Machinery for access to machines.
Working together, teams at Caterpillar, Simformotion and the rehab center are helping create new opportunities for training and enabling wounded veterans to find satisfying careers in heavy equipment.
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