AOL News features Learning by Living Program

AOL News featured UNE's Learning by Living program, founded by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D, UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine director of geriatric education and research, on its Good News Now site August 19.  The article profiles UNE second-year medical student Amy Pratt, who spent two weeks at a Massachusetts nursing home in May, living the life of an elder resident, complete with a medical diagnosis and standard procedures of care.

Pratt stated, "The biggest lesson ... was that all of the people that I will help are people before they ever are or ever were patients," she said. "They lead full lives, they have families, they have important things to talk about."

The Learning by Living program provides a first-hand experience for future doctors to look beyond the disease to treat the whole patient. "They have to wheel a mile in the chairs of an elder before they truly understand the impact," Gugliucci said.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.