If you see a big multi-vehicle accident at John Abbott College this afternoon, don't panic.
It's a simulation that's part of the CEGEP's annual Open House.
There are cars, victims, emergency vehicles, even blood - but it's all fake. The simulation involves a drunk driving scenario with a car crashing into another with two people in it. The practice scene near the Laird and Anne-Marie Edward Science Buildings is meant to give students an idea of what it's like in the real world.
Matthew Morin, simulation coordinator for the pre-hospital emergency care program, said they use high tech equipment to make it as real as possible.
"Mannequins that can replicate real physiological symptoms of a real patient. So they have blood pressures, they have pulses, they could speak, they can bleed. We use these mannequins to try to get students to have complex scenarios that replicate the real life as close as possible to prepare them for the field," Morin told CJAD 800 News in an interview.
Morin said it's a valuable and practical exercise with information and experiences that can't be taught and learned the same way in a classroom.
"Even just the skills of assessing a patient - these are the things that are going to be very important for them to learn and apply and not just sit and passively learn some theory about it," said Morin.
Morin said it's the first time students from four departments are taking part - nursing, paramedecine, police technology and theatre. Morin said just like in real life, they'll learn to coordinate and communicate with other professionals in an emergency situation.
The presentations take place at 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m and last roughly an hour each.