College of Nursing hosts Community Action Poverty Simulation

Auburn Nursing’s first-year summer cohort recently participated in one of two poverty simulations designed to introduce students to the circumstances of living in poverty, as well as inform future practice. The Community Action Poverty Simulation was facilitated by Rachel Cody, assistant clinical professor of nursing. The event also included high school students from Auburn Outreach’s Discovery MedCamp and visiting students from National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences in Taiwan.

During the simulation, students engaged in role-playing exercises simulating a month in the lives of individuals from low-income families, including single parents trying to take care of their children to senior citizens managing on Social Security.

Participants completed tasks such as finding employment, taking children to school, using banks, and accessing community resources and social services. AUCON faculty and staff participated at resource tables in roles such as pawn broker, employer, clergy, and utility manager, interacting with students to present either challenges or assistance based on their assigned situations.

The primary objective of these simulations was to foster holistic patient care by assisting with healthcare needs and providing resources to address their challenges. Should I buy medicine or food, pay rent?’ It gives them an opportunity to think about how their patients face challenges daily and what resources they need to be able to manage them.

This fall, faculty and staff plan to hold an interdisciplinary poverty simulation for Auburn Nursing’s first-year fall cohort as well as students from other colleges at Auburn.