January 14, 2010
CAE Healthcare acquires ICCU and VIMEDIX to offer a complete training solution for ultrasound imaging
CAE Healthcare has acquired ICCU Imaging and VIMEDIX in order to expand its growing portfolio with a specialty in ultrasound imaging training.
ICCU Imaging specializes in developing cutting-edge multimedia educative material and offering practical and easy-to-use educational solutions to help medical providers perform a focused bedside ultrasound examination. VIMEDIX specializes in developing advanced echographic simulation training and has begun marketing a virtual reality animated transthoracic echocardiography simulator.
“These bolt-on acquisitions are an important step in the growth of CAE Healthcare. By combining the expertise of ICCU Imaging and VIMEDIX with CAE’s training, simulation and modelling know-how, CAE Healthcare will be able to offer a complete solution for ultrasound imaging training, including e-learning, bedside ultrasound seminars and medical simulators,” said CAE Healthcare President Guillaume Hervé. “ICCU Imaging and VIMEDIX are first-class operations. It is a pleasure to welcome their leaders, recognized as worldwide experts in their fields, Dr. Yanick Beaulieu, President and founder of ICCU Imaging and Dr. Robert Amyot, CEO and President of VIMEDIX, to the CAE Healthcare team.”
The underlying imaging market, which drives the need for realistic training, is experiencing rapid growth, particularly because of the proliferation of handheld and portable devices. Those units enable a larger population of healthcare practitioners to perform diagnostic procedures and evaluations, which historically could only be done by medical imaging specialists.
“Bringing ultrasound imaging technology at the bedside is as big a revolution as the advent of the stethoscope 200 years ago,” said Dr. Yanick Beaulieu, M.D., director of the bedside ultrasound curriculum at Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal and founder of ICCU. “Today’s ultrasound imaging machines are small and portable and they reduce associated risk of many invasive procedures. One of the greatest challenges faced by critical care physicians in widely adopting ultrasound is the requirement for widespread ultrasound education in order to reach proficiency and ensure safety.”
“We are very enthusiastic about joining the CAE Healthcare team,” added Dr. Robert Amyot, M.D., cardiologist at the Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur and founder of VIMEDIX. “By combining our healthcare educational experience with CAE’s 60 years of world-leading experience in simulation-based training, I am convinced we will develop together innovative life-saving and life-enhancing tools.”
