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JMU STUDENTS TO SIMULATE LIVING IN POVERTY OCT. 24-25 | |
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From: Media Relations October 19, 2000HARRISONBURG – What's it like to be poverty-stricken or homeless? Students from the health and human services department at James Madison University will get a glimpse Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 24 and 25, in "Life in the State of Poverty," a simulation designed to sensitize participants to the realities faced by low-income people. The simulation will take place both days from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in the JMU Convocation Center. "Our goal is to raise awareness of the issue of poverty and to impress people with how easy it is to become homeless," said Linda J. Hulton, a clinical instructor in JMU's nursing program who has coordinated the event with Sarah Ann Whitmore of the Rockingham County Home Extension Agency. "Sometimes all it takes is one crisis, such as the loss of a job or the death of a spouse, to put someone out of their home or move them onto welfare rolls." In the simulation, students portray people with low incomes from various kinds of families. Some are unemployed, elderly or disabled, while others have been deserted by the "breadwinner." With a severely limited amount of money, they must meet specific goals such as obtaining food, clothes and medical care from participants who represent community resources. Most of the 150 people who will portray family members are students from JMU's nursing, social work, health sciences administration, dietetics, speech communication, kinesiology, psychology, physician's assistant and occupational therapy programs. Real police officers, grocers, bankers, social workers and others form the groups from which services must be obtained. "The simulation is valuable for our students because it helps prepare them to deal with the clients they will face in the real world," said Hulton. "For the other participants, it can serve as an eye-opener to what is becoming more and more of a problem in our society today." # # #Writer: Charles Culbertson, Media Relations |
 
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Publisher: Media Relations For Information Contact: JMU News Bureau |
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