TU Student Trainers Practice Techniques On Lifelike Model

It's been nearly a year since Tulane University football player Devon Walker fractured his spine during a game against the University of Tulsa.

Now, TU student trainers are getting a different type of hands-on experience dealing with serious injuries.

TU student trainers have always practiced drills for all sorts of injuries, but what makes this year different is they are practicing with a human simulator.

It's called a METIman. The 150-pound human simulator can mimic just about any medical condition a person can have.

"He has a pulse. He breathes. We can make him sweat. We can make him bleed. His pupils dilate, pupils constrict. We can send him into convulsions," said Clinical Assistant Professor Ron Walker.

For the first time, TU student trainers are able to practice real-life injury scenarios with the simulator. For instance, they're learning how to properly support a player's head if he or she is knocked unconscious during a game. In the past, this drill hasn't been as easy to practice.

"Usually, what we do is we get myself or one random person to lay down, put helmet, shoulder pads on and lay on the field," said Head Athletic Trainer Dave Polanski.

9/8/2012 Related Story: Tulane Player Seriously Injured In Tulsa's 45-10 Win

Athletic trainers have to be ready for worst case scenarios, like what happened last season when Tulane player Devon Walker hit one of his teammates helmet-to-helmet.

Trainers and doctors from both schools surrounded the injured player.

"At first I thought it was a stinger, because my whole body was numb," Walker said.

"That time last year was really the only time I've been in a situation where that has happened during a game, where we really had to do that," Polanski said.

Senior Rebekah Whitehead is about to start her second year as a football trainer.

"We can't practice chest compressions on each other, so doing it on [the METIman] is a lot easier, so we can actually get feedback from the model itself," Whitehead said.

She's certain this practice will help calm her nerves if a serious injury happens on the field.

Devon Walker is paralyzed from his neck down, but he told reporters at the CBS affiliate in New Orleans that he plans to go back to school and graduate.