“Do you have any plans for that empty space beside the Kung Fu studio?”
At their request, Shauna and I were giving the foundation’s board of directors a tour of Hannah’s Home and showing off the latest improvements that we’d made. Jake and Harry were getting a peek into every nook of the property.
“Abby decided that we’re going to be turning that space into a gym. We’ve mapped out the weight training area, as well a room for Zumba and other types of fitness classes. The equipment has already been sourced and we should have the last flooring and ventilation quotes by the end of the week, Mr. McKenzie.”
“Abby, can you please order Shauna to call me Jake.”
“Sure thing, Mr. McKenzie. Shauna, please refer to Mr. McKenzie as Jake from now on, when he’s not around.”
“Damn smartass teenagers. They have no respect for their elders.”
“Actually, Jake, your problem seems to be that they’re showing you too much respect.” Harry was having fun watching us rile up Jake. Harry was looking much fitter these days. He’d kept his promise to change his diet and he was exercising regularly. He’d lost over fifteen pounds since I’d cleaned out his arteries and he had no trouble keeping up with the tour.
“Et tu, Harry? Why is everyone against me?”
“And over here, we have our newest addition, VR Health Systems. It’s a company that I’ve invested in. They’re paying rent, just like Sister Clara’s clinic, so they’re helping to pay a few of the foundation’s bills. Normally, I’d just walk you past it, as it’s not a part of the foundation, but since Harry’s here, I figured I’d use the opportunity to put in a shameless plug for the company. I’m hoping to convince Harry to use his vast powers as the dean of Galt University to help us out by providing us with free consultants and an endorsement. You can consider this part of the tour as the commercial break.”
“What does VR Health Systems do?” Harry asked skeptically.
“We train doctors using virtual reality to simulate real world medical issues. Jenny’s going to take over the presentation and I’ll answer any questions that you have afterwards.”
Jenny introduced herself and the team and proceeded to explain the reason behind the company’s formation. She took them through our perceived gap in the market and how we were taking VR to the next level. While she did that, I suited up and prepared for the demonstration. We’d hooked up three extra units to the system so that Jake, Mark and Harry could be in the operating room with me while I performed the surgery.
I waited for them to join me just outside the OR and once they’d gotten used to the virtual reality environment, I walked them through all the steps that a surgeon had to go through. “An instructor can choose to abbreviate this simulation and only focus on the actual surgery, or they can leave it as is and the medical student will be scored on every aspect of his or her preparation for surgery, from reviewing the patient’s chart to washing up before the surgery to ensuring that everything they need for the surgery is present. In honor of Harry joining us today, I’ve set up today’s surgery to be an Atherosclerosis endarterectomy. That’s the procedure he would have needed to clear out the plaque from his arteries.”
A half hour later, I took a slightly queasy pair of directors outside into the sunshine to get some fresh air. Mark was already there, having left the simulation when I’d first cut into the VR body.
“That was too real, Abby. I never wanted to be a doctor and this just reinforced that decision. When I saw the blood and organs, I honestly forgot that I was in a simulation.”
“That’s exactly what I was going for. That VR body is as real as we can make it right now. All the different bodily systems are programmed to function exactly like a human would, down to bleeding at the right pressure and amount for any given injury. Over the next several years, our plan it to program it further, into the cellular level so that we could even model the effects of various drugs on the body and show how the immune system reacts to viruses, bacteria and cancers.”
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“Our short-term goal is to program the system with more surgeries. Once we have the top five most common surgeries in every major surgical department programed, we’ll put more emphasis on the clinical interactions between doctors and patients. That part requires a more comprehensive AI in order to simulate the various responses that a human would give when questioned by a doctor. The medical student will have to work with the clues given in order to come up with the correct diagnosis. The student will be able to order tests and then use the results of those tests to prepare and administer a treatment. Our objective is to train the students for the real world, without having them make as many mistakes on real people.”
“That’s where you come in, Harry. I’d like to start having some of the doctors, residents, and medical students try out the system and evaluate it. I’d like to get suggestions and feedback for how to improve the system from your people. Hopefully, they’ll like it enough to put in a VR Health Systems Simulation Lab at the Quill. If you agree to be a beta site for VR Health Systems, I can offer you a substantial discount for being our first customer.”
Jack quickly interjected, “Hold on, Abby. Don’t give him too big a discount up front. Make him earn it by through usage milestones. The last thing you want is to have your system sitting unused in a basement closet because one of the medical school administrators doesn’t want the system taking up their resources and makes sure that the system is sidelined. This is academia you’re dealing with and the politics are insane. Everyone fights tooth and nail for their share of the budget. At the very least make him put your system as part of his marketing budget so that the none of the doctors see this an encroachment onto their turf.”
Harry laughed, nodding his head in agreement. “I know you’re just trying to complicate my life, Jake, but that’s actually a very good idea. Being the first school to use Abby’s system will put us ahead of many of the larger schools that have had simulation labs for almost three decades. That’s something my marketing department can make use of. Abby’s system can also improve our training, while making us less reliant on cadavers. One of the reasons we don’t have a simulation lab is because of the high upfront costs and the ongoing expense of the consumables. Unlike so many other simulation labs out there, the VR system has no consumables. Depending on the price of the system, we could end up with a cost-effective simulation lab, while providing a higher quality education.”
We spend a few minutes discussing the pricing of the hardware and the yearly software fees. Jake kept annoying Harry by pushing me to increase the price. “What’s the point in marketing this great new system, if the company folds because you were too cheap to pay for using it?” The two of them fought it out, while Mark and I stood to the side.
“Got any popcorn?”, he asked.
“Sorry, no. When does your flight leave?”
“Right after this tour. I’ll be dropping off Jake in Ashville and continuing on from there. You’re still set to join me in two weeks?”
“Yup. I can spend a day at the mine with you in New York and then I’ll spend another day visiting hospitals out there, before we head on to Cleveland and Minnesota.”
“Looks like they’re winding down. You know they’re going to ask you about that surgery, right?”
“Yeah. I’m a little surprised they didn’t already.”
“Jenny told me that they modeled the whole surgery based on you and your directions. Your knowledge and skill, combined with your lack of any official medical training is going to raise a few eyebrows.”
“That’s my biggest reason for needing the vetting of Galt University. I’d give them the system for free if I had to, just to get my foot in the door. Galt may not be very prestigious, but it’s known to have a solid medical program. A reference from them will open up a lot of options.”
“Do you have an explanation ready for them? For how you became a surgeon in less than four months? One so proficient that she can teach techniques to residents and medical students?”
“Not really. I was going to go with evasion, deflection and misdirection.”
“Ah. The usual then. Always lead with your strengths.”
Mark got a shot to the arm for that dig, but he was right. Harry and Jake finished their bickering and Harry’s next very next question was to ask about the doctor that consulted with us to advise on that surgery and to model our technique on.
I pretended to misunderstand his question and answered an entirely different one. “It’s not just that one surgery that we were advised on. We have fifteen surgeries programmed in already. For over half of those we have at least two techniques that can be used and scored. The hardest part is programming in all the different ways that we can think for a student to mess up the surgery and finding the proper response for correcting it. We have the process down now and we’re able to add in two, sometimes, three surgeries to our list every week. At that rate, we’ll be switching over our main focus to the clinical interactions in half a year.”
Harry was about to ask another question when I was saved by the bell. The bell in question was the ringing of Jake’s cell phone. As he answered it, Mark gave me a thumbs up for my evasion. However, Jake's side of the conversation caught our attention and we all listened intently.
“Did everyone get out?” Pause. “How many are still inside?” Pause. “What magnitude was it?” Pause.
“How soon until the engineers clear your guys to start excavation?” Pause. “Any word on aftershocks?” Pause. “My crew will be there in an hour with extra equipment. Good luck, Tom!”
Jake didn’t stop to explain anything to us. He dialed a number and started talking as soon as it was answered. “Ricky, I just got off the phone with Thomas Carver. He’s got a cave in and trapped miners. I’m assuming that the earthquake didn’t damage us, or you’d have called me already. Get a team and equipment over to his place and be ready to help him in any way you can. Call me right away with any news or questions, no matter what time it is.” Jake stayed on the line for another few exchanges and then turned back to us.
“Earthquake in Montana. Epicenter wasn’t far from our silver mine. Our neighbor and good friend Tom has a cave in. Over twenty miners are trapped a mile down. The engineers won’t let anyone in yet so no one knows the extent of the damage.”
“Are we going to go and help out?” Mark asked.
“I’ve already sent in our crews to help. Tom knows his business. You and I would just be in the way.”
Mark looked over at me. “Abby wouldn’t be.”