On Wednesday, the Sevier County community received a demonstration of Walters State Community College’s new Sim-Man, an advanced nursing training tool that simulates a real person and can present symptoms of various illnesses.

The Sim-Man was provided through community donations. Basic Sim-Man simulators have been placed at the college’s Morristown and Greeneville campuses and the advanced one is at the Sevier County Campus.

Major donors for the Sim-Man purchase included Emily Kile, Josephine Burchfiel, Fort Sanders Sevier Medical Center and the Robert F. Thomas Foundation.

“We are very grateful again to our community supporters who have enabled the college to provide this valuable training tool to our students,” said Dr. Wade B. McCamey, president of Walters State.

“Our nursing graduates are already among the best prepared in the state and this tool will prepare them for the advanced nursing care that will be needed in the future,” McCamey added.

Walters State has been named one of the nation’s top 100 providers of nurses and nursing graduates consistently have first-try pass rates on the required state exam consistently over 90 percent.

Cheryl McCall, head of the college’s nursing program, said the Sim-Man not only provides additional learning opportunities and will also help build the confidence of new nurses.

“The Sim-Man reacts like a real patient with vital signs. If you administer medicine that causes the heart rate to drop in a real person, the heart rate will drop in the Sim-Man. It gives the student a great opportunity to learn advanced patient care in a safe environment,” McCall said.

McCall hopes to expand the use of the Sim-Man to other academic programs at the college, including the paramedic program and the respiratory care program.