Dear PCRM supporter,

Help us end the use of live pigs in a trauma training course scheduled to begin Monday at MeritCare Medical Center in Fargo, N.D. Across the nation, more than 90 percent of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses are taught using only human-based simulators. But at MeritCare this course involves cutting open live, anesthetized pigs and practicing emergency medical procedures. After the training session, the animals are killed. The American College of Surgeons, the ATLS oversight body, has approved nonanimal models like the TraumaMan System and cadavers for these courses.

Please call, e-mail, or write a letter to MeritCare president and CEO Roger Gilbertson, M.D., and politely ask him to end animal use in the institution’s ATLS course. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals. Send an automatic e-mail.

Roger Gilbertson, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
MeritCare Health System
P.O. Box MC
Fargo, ND 58122
E-mail: roger.gilbertson@meritcare.com
Phone: 701-234-6960

On Jan. 28, 2009, PCRM filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, citing the unlawful use of live animals by MeritCare. The complaint cites an ongoing 2007-2009 survey by PCRM, which has so far received responses from 197 U.S. facilities offering ATLS courses. The survey has found that 180 of those facilities (more than 90 percent) exclusively use nonanimal models for instruction. In addition, the vast majority of those 180 facilities exclusively use the TraumaMan System.

Read the Fargo Forum article on this issue.

Learn more about the TraumaMan System. If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley@pcrm.org. Thanks so much for your help!

Best regards,
 
Ryan Merkley
Manager of Humane Education Programs