St. John’s University medical students will work on eerily lifelike mannequins that ‘speak, sweat and cry’

St. John’s University formally dedicated its new $106 million health center on Wednesday — unveiling a place where students will interact with eerily lifelife mannequins and even trained actors to hone their craft.

The new state-of-the-art St. Vincent’s Health Sciences Center also comes equipped with VR setups and X-ray machines for nursing, radiological and physician assistant students.

The mannequins give students the opportunity to train for emergencies on the real thing — almost.

“They can do everything. Speak, sweat, cry, and blink,” said Simulations Director Christopher Naidu, who runs the simulation suites where mannequins sit in hospital beds.

In an exclusive tour with the Post, Naidu demonstrated how technicians control the mannequins’ vitals, speaking through a microphone to simulate a patient in respiratory distress from a back-door operating room.

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A professor and student inside the simulation room could be seen on camera from Naidu’s monitor. The student-teacher pair were seen using a stethoscope to check the dummy’s vitals after it “complained of shortness of breath after a patellar surgery.”

The university has also hired agency actors that that will run through real-life scenarios with students beginning in October, acting out heart attacks, strokes and even mental health emergencies.

“Their vision really got put into the product,” said Lin Huang, a junior nursing student who began working with the real-life mannequins in one of the several skills and simulation labs in the past week.

Fellow junior nursing student Andrea Lin said the tools “makes it interesting for students.”

“Normally we would practice on each other, and we would assume that our patient or classmate was just a healthy adult,” Lin said. “But with the mannequins we can, like with real people, assume a lot of different sicknesses.”

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The 70,000-square-foot building began construction in early 2022 after President Rev. Brian Shanley came into position in early 2021 and decided to move forward with the project after it was halted amid previous leadership changes.

The pricey building was funded through a combination of public and private grants, including a $5 million New York State Higher Education Capital Matching Grant, a $700,000 Empire State Development Grant and $1.25 million from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

More than $20 million in philanthropic support was also provided by alumni couple and longtime St. John’s benefactors Peter P. D’Angelo and Margaret LaRosa D’Angelo.

Its sustainability features include geothermal heating, rooftop solar panels and windows designed to reduce thermal loss.

“When I got here I thought this is a no-brainer,” Shanley said to the Post.

“We’re in a daunting higher-end moment right now and we think that healthcare is a really critical part of St Johns moving forward,” Shanley added. “And from a mission point of view, it’s right in our sweet spot.”

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Shanley also noted it was important for the nursing, PA, and radiological science students to be able to work in the same building to simulate a real hospital, teaching students through a “team-led” approach.

Radiological science students could be found in fully functional X-ray rooms downstairs, where they will soon be able to practice technician work and collaborate with other students.

“I honestly was excited, I was like, ‘oh my gosh, a top-of-the-line room where I can actually shoot X-rays on?'” senior radiological student Susan said. “Before I could position a patient, but you dont always know what will come up on the image. So to actually see my work and have my teachers there to critique is amazing.”

Another component of the learning experience is Perspectus VR stations where students wear headsets and use controllers to dissect anatomy and CT scans to get a slower-paced understanding of the human body outside of simulation labs.

The VR experience was led by Associate Professor Jeanette Perron, who said she has excitedly brought many of her students to come to view the lab.

“We don’t live in a two-dimensional world. Exploring the body in three dimensions is the most hands-on way for our students to learn,” Perron said.

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