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DeSales nursing students will join Cedar Crest College nursing and social work students in a Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS), in order to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing low-income families, on Friday, March 19, at Cedar Crest. The program, which will include more than 100 participants, will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Hamilton Boulevard Building.
Developed by the Missouri Association for Community Action, CAPS is a unique tool to educate everyone from policy makers to local community leaders about the day-to-day realities of life for those with a shortage of money and an abundance of stress—from single parents trying to care for their children, to senior citizens trying to maintain their self sufficiency on Social Security.
“Nurses and social workers frequently interact with low-income families. The simulation enables students and others to look at poverty from a variety of angles and then to recognize and discuss the potential for change in their local communities,” said Sandra Leh, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the undergraduate nursing program at Cedar Crest College.
Students and invited community members will play the roles of childcare workers, social workers, utility workers, faith-based workers, employers, pawn broker, grocery clerk, teacher, police officer, banker, mortgage and rent collectors, etc. during the simulation. These roles represent key agencies/people that have direct contact with populations living in poverty and that impact their lives on a daily basis. The college students will also play the roles of people on fixed incomes trying to make ends meet during the simulation.
According to Mary Brinker, DeSales faculty member and simulation lab coordinator, this exciting event enables two higher education institutions to develop a partnership in the preparation of both future nurses and social employees who will play a big part in the patient care of those of a lower socioeconomic status.
“The simulation experience is a vital educational tool,” said Brinker. “This particular event provides students with the opportunity to learn first-hand how to assist people who may not have all that is needed to survive on a daily basis and about the various social services that are available to them.”
Press Release: DeSales and Cedar Crest College students address challenges of the impoverished in special event, Fri., March 19, at Cedar Crest | Posted on: 3/17/2010
For more info:
Tom McNamara, Executive Director of Communications
DeSales University | 2255 Station Avenue | Center Valley, PA 18034
610.282.1100 x1219 | Tom.McNamara@desales.edu |
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