Hello. My name is Dr. Andria Joy. I’m the manager of clinical skills learning at the Ontario Veterinary College.

This summer, due to COVID, I’ve brought all my silicone model-making equipment and materials home and I’ve been making these silicone models in my garage all summer.

Alright, so this is a mass model that we use to teach oncology surgical training. We use this in our second year, our Phase 2. This mass model was developed by Dr. Michelle Oblak here at the Ontario Veterinary College. So it represents a muscle layer here, which is red like muscle, and then there is a fascial layer, which is blue paper, and then the subcutaneous layer here, and then the skin on top. So without the skin, it looks like that.

So there is one mass there and then the other one is buried underneath the subcutaneous because some masses are that way.

So what I’m doing right now is mixing up these two vats of silicone.

So silicone — or the type that i use — is very, very simple and straightforward to use. It comes as a Pot A and a Pot B and they remain liquid for forever until they’re mixed together and then they solidify into the silicone there and they solidify at different times. So these products here in today’s heat would probably be completely set within four hours.

So we’ll mix this…

It’s not like a cooking show where I have another pot all ready, so you’ll just have to be patient. So this takes a bit of finesse because you only want — there’s no real perfect way to measure it; just by eyeballing it.

So basically, when these are all set, that’s what this model will look like.

By creating a model that represents these masses, our students are capable of learning in a low-stress environment. The students can take these in lab or in regular labs or in times of COVID, they will have these models at home. And they will be able to do repeated practice to improve their skill and technique and mastery of this technique.