Medical student's experience in 'Learning by Living' project highlighted
An excerpt of a journal written by a University of New England medical student has been published in the Foster’s Daily Democrat. Ianna Hondros-McCarthy, M.A., UNECOM MS II, participated in the "Learning by Living" project designed and implemented by Marilyn R. Gugliucci, PhD, Professor & Director of Geriatrics Education and Research. She spent ten days living in The Edgewood Center nursing home, living the life of an older adult resident with a stroke.
During her stay, Hondros-McCarthy lived as though she had lost functionality in her left arm and leg. She required assistance to walk, get in and out of a wheelchair, and even to use the bathroom. “It took a while for me to get used to living here; used to not being able to leave the building without an escort; used to being woken up every couple of hours at night to be rolled over in bed. It took a lot to get used to living on a schedule that I didn’t dictate,” wrote Hondros-McCarthy. “But, like most other residents, I did.”
She stated that the experience prepared her for her medical career by helping her understand what patients go through. “Here, I felt like my saving grace had been seeing the change I wanted to be — seeing the determination to be happy here and all the success people had.”
