ɫƵ medical student pens op-ed for ‘Bangor Daily News’ about nursing home immersion program

Joshua Allen

Joshua Allen (COM, ’19) wrote an opinion piece for the Bangor Daily News about what it’s like to live in a nursing home. Allen learned about the experience firsthand as part of the Learning by Living program designed and implemented by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Geriatric Medicine in the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Allen stayed at St. Andre Health Care in Biddeford for 10 days, living life as an elder nursing home resident with a stroke diagnosis. “Because of the many experiences I encountered, as a future physician, I will be mindful when I write prescriptions, as I truly understand now what it means to eat pureed foods, to take nighttime medications, and to be restricted from moving on one’s own or from going outside,” wrote Allen. “I have lived this life.”

 

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