You've heard the expression, "there's no substitute for experience.”
That may be true, but Walton County paramedics received the closest thing to real-life emergency situations today as part of a special training exercise.
Newschannel 7's Alex Denis shows us some state-of the art equipment that recreates emergency situations.
This emergency crew can't figure out what's wrong with their patient.
That's okay, because their patient isn't real.
Meet the state's cutting-edge medical simulator dummie "Tommy."
Tommy responds just like a real patient.
He answers questions, coughs and wheezes.
His symptoms will either get better or worse, depending on the treatment he receives from the medical crew.
"When we would use our stethoscopes on the chest you could hear the breath sounds like you would on a real patient. It gives you more of the reaction that a real patient would do," says first responder Lt. Robert Daniel.
Instructors can control the simulator, programming-in different symptoms for unusual emergencies- like Anthrax inhalation and an H1N1 Flu outbreak.
They hope the realistic training will better prepare first responders for real-life emergencies.
"It improves their proficiency in recognizing some things they wouldn't normally run into such as Pandemic Flu, Anthrax, burn and blast injuries, cyanide poisoning," says first responder Capt. Steve White.
Tommy's bus travels all over the state helping first responders perfect their skills diagnosing unusual symptoms.
"Your fire rescue crews are going to be the ones that are called upon to answer that call. They need additional training and additional funding for that training to help keep the general public safe," says Clinical Programs Coordinator Eric Dotten.
Defuniak Springs and Walton County emergency agencies secured a state grant to bring the mobile simulation lab to Defuniak Springs for this week's training.
Paramedics and EMS feel these simulated training should be used more often.
"This is the training of the future, but it really needs to be the training of now because it's so realistic and that's the training that we need so when our crews encounter this, it's not the first time. It's a very practiced skill," says White.
The simulator training costs $3,500 a day.
Walton County personnel will training on the simulator in Defuniak Springs until Thursday.