Laerdal is a multinational company that develops products and programs for healthcare providers, voluntary organizations, educational institutions, hospitals, and the military worldwide. Laerdal has almost 2,000 employees in 26 countries. The headquarters is located in Stavanger, Norway. History Laerdal was founded in 1940 by Åsmund S. Lærdal as a children’s publishing and toy company. During the years as a toy developer, Lærdal learned about a synthetic plastic material, now known as PVC, that was suited for the casting of toys and dolls. The use of soft plastics revolutionized the toy industry and by 1960, more than 100 million toy cars, under the brand Tomte, had been sold in 100 countries. The Laerdal Anne doll was named "Toy of the Year" and became a bestseller throughout Europe. Due to this experience with soft plastics, The Norwegian Civil Defense called on Laerdal to design natural-looking imitation wounds for military training. In 1958, Laerdal was approached by Norwegian anesthesiologist after learning from Dr. Peter Safar about the need for a lifelike manikin to train the new concept of mouth-to-mouth ventilation. Together, Laerdal, Lind and Safar developed the world’s first patient simulator, Resusci Anne, which was introduced in 1960. The face of Resusci Anne was inspired by the death mask of an unidentified girl who was found drowned in the River Seine in Paris at the turn of the 19th century. Resusci Anne would become the predecessor of a series of manikins used to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Resuscitation training During the next 60 years, Laerdal resuscitation training manikins were developed to train both healthcare providers and the general population in the lifesaving skill of CPR. It is estimated by the American Heart Association that resuscitation training manikins have been used to train 500 million people worldwide saving an estimated 2.5 million lives. Laerdal's resuscitation training is used to strengthen the Chain of Survival. The Chain of Survival illustrates the sequence of interventions for cardiac arrest that have been shown to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest. Healthcare simulation Today, medical errors result in an estimated 4.1 million deaths globally, every year. The methodology of simulation training in healthcare education has gained widespread recognition within the field of healthcare as a tool for reinforcing clinical skills and knowledge. Laerdal was one of the first companies to develop products for medical simulation, introducing a series of realistic human patient simulators, to enable interactive training without