"I've had colon cancer, lung cancer, strokes. Plenty of strokes. I've had it all."

Not that Mick Cumming is making light of illness and trauma, far from it. As one of 40 sim patients enlisted by the Bendigo Campus, Mick is serious in his aim to help prepare La Trobe Rural Health School students for a career at the coalface.

Sim patients take part in simulated scenarios, from road traumas to medical appointments and everything in between. The role requires a good dose of acting, a strong stomach, excellent communication skills, and the ability to interact with people of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities.

Mr Cumming started standing in for seriously ill people five years ago, after he saw a notice at his local bowls club for an information session about becoming a sim patient on campus.

"It was something different," he said. "I like to help out. I take my hat off to anyone studying and learning. Good on them I reckon."

"The best job I've done was a stroke scenario. It involved having a stroke here on campus and the paramedic students came, assessed me and put me on a trolley then handed me over to the triage nursing students. Then I saw the physios, then the occupational therapists, all over a couple of weeks.

Mr Cumming actually researches and prepares for the simulated illness and mishaps he will have.

"Google is my best friend. Youtube is my best friend. I read a lot and study a lot and practise at home."

"One of the most difficult ones I did was a death scenario for nurses. I was the relative next to my parent in the bed, who was going through the process of passing away. There was a machine that made the noises a person actually makes. It was really confronting for the students. A sad situation but a good situation. All these things, they have to deal with."

An important part of any simulation is the debrief afterwards. Sim patients also take part in these, offering constructive feedback from a patients' perspective.