The United Kingdom – Lifecast Body Simulation, a leader in highly realistic training manikins, announced today the release of the world’s first Child with Down Syndrome training manikin. This realistic manikin was formed from a real-life 3D body scan of a seven (7) year old girl with Down syndrome named Gwen and will be available to healthcare education facilities around the world to facilitate specialty and inclusive training in managing Down syndrome.
Down syndrome (also called Trisomy 21) is a genetic disorder caused when abnormal cell division results in extra genetic material from chromosome 21. While varied amongst patients, a few common physical traits of Down syndrome are low muscle tone, a difficult airway for intubation, smaller stature, gapping in the toes, almond-shaped eyes, a single deep crease across the center of the palm, smaller hands and feet – all of which are accurately represented in the child with Down syndrome training manikin.

Gwen was created by Lifecast Body Simulation and the University of Greenwich in London who also received support from the Down Syndrome Association. Gwen and her family are truly supporting such a worthy cause in creating awareness of Down syndrome and giving healthcare providers an accurate means of training while continuing to support diversity and inclusion in simulation-based education and training.

“Gwen is the world’s first truly inclusive manikin. Our goal is to make manikins that look like real people. We worked with the University of Greenwich in the UK to create this manikin lifecast and 3D scan of Gwen, a 7 year-old girl with Down Syndrome who lives in the UK with her dad, mum and brother.” says David Halliwell, Founding Director of Lifecast Body Simulation Ltd.

The Gwen child with Down syndrome training manikin will make her official presence into the marketplace at the Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare (ASPiH) on November 6 in Birmingham, UK and will be launching in the United States at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) January 21, 2023 in Orlando, Florida.