Loyola students, faculty and staff to take part in poverty simulations

Loyola University Chicago Health Sciences students, faculty and staff will participate in simulations to help them better understand what it is like to live in poverty.

The simulations will take place on Saturday, Feb. 7, from 9 am to noon at St. Eulalia's Church at 1851 S. 9th Ave. in Maywood and on Tuesday, Feb. 10, from 6 to 9 pm in Mundelein Auditorium located at 1020 W. Sheridan Road on Loyola's Lake Shore Campus.

During the three-hour simulation, participants will role-play families living in poverty while others will serve as representatives from social service agencies.

"Participants will come away with a better understanding of the impact poverty has on health and well-being," said Aaron Michelfelder, MD, family medicine physician, Loyola University Health System, and co-director for the Institute for Transformative Interprofessional Education (I-TIE), Loyola University Chicago. "This workshop also will teach our students, doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals how to better care comprehensively for patients in the context and realities in which they live."

This workshop is part of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Health Resources and Services Administration I-CARE-PATH grant (#UD7HP26040). The goal of the grant is to foster interprofessional education within the schools of nursing, medicine, dietetics, social work and public health to ultimately improve care for patients.
Loyola faculty will determine how this simulation can be used in a greater capacity within its curricula while Loyola doctors and other health-care professionals will be able to apply their findings directly to patient care.

"Loyola has a rich history of shaping our students into competent, compassionate, and socially responsible health-care professionals," said Fran Vlasses, PhD, RN, NEA, FAAN, department chair in the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing and co-director for I-TIE. "This program is in line with our mission, as it gives our faculty and students a greater understanding of the needs of the underserved, making them more compassionate and well-rounded health-care professionals."