{"id":4709,"date":"2018-04-30T06:47:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-30T12:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/?p=4709"},"modified":"2019-01-31T09:27:21","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T15:27:21","slug":"college-of-health-sciences-conducts-poverty-simulation-for-faculty-and-staff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/2018\/04\/30\/college-of-health-sciences-conducts-poverty-simulation-for-faculty-and-staff\/","title":{"rendered":"College of Health Sciences conducts Poverty Simulation for faculty and staff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Running around a crowded gym carrying paper money and wearing a nametag detailing the role they were given,\u00a0nearly 100 Belmont College of Health Sciences and Nursing (CHSN) faculty and staff filled the Sports Science Center on Wednesday, April 25 to participate in the Community Action Poverty Simulation (CAPS). Booths representing community agencies (social services, school, the bank, a pawn shop and more) lined the walls as participants assumed their roles. Some were experiencing homeless, others represented single parents and even more participated as families with many children \u2014 all simulating exactly what it is to live in poverty across America.<\/p>\n

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The CAPS experience asks participants to meet, and better understand, the day-to-day challenges \u00a0faced by more than a million Tennesseans who live in poverty. . Armed with bus passes, plastic EBT cards, paper money and more, each person role-played the lives of low-income families.\u00a0They had the stressful task of providing for basic necessities and shelter on a limited budget during the course of four 15-minute \u201cweeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

CHSN hosted the simulation as part of the BeTIP program\u2013Belmont\u2019s Educating Trauma-Informed Professionals Initiative, a program that is funded by Belmont\u2019s receipt of an Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) grant administered through the Department of Children\u2019s Services Building Strong Brains Tennessee Initiative.<\/p>\n

Director of Clinical Education in the School of Physical Therapy Gail Bursch participated in the simulation and was given the role of a single mother of two\u2013a 17-year-old son who had dropped out of high school, was selling drugs and had a pregnant girlfriend and a 15-year-old daughter in high school. Her husband had recently left and the family was forced to survive on only $20. Bursch said the experience was incredibly eye-opening and induced significant amounts of stress on she and her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe experience will continue to stick with me,\u201d Bursch said. \u201cOur students, once graduated, will have the opportunity to treat people from all socioeconomic classes and this simulation is important training in ensuring they are able to develop deepened insight and empathy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean of the College Dr. Cathy Taylor described the importance of trauma-informed professionals throughout health care, noting the impact toxic stress can have on a person\u2019s physical health. \u201cThere is constant stress associated with living in poverty,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cStress associated with not having the resources to pay bills, a lack of transportation and limited access to adequate childcare are just a few examples of that stress. And we know the developing young brain is especially \u00a0vulnerable to the effects of toxic stress \u2014 it can literally disrupt \u00a0brain development and lead to a host of poor mental and physical health outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Taylor and her team are actively working to ensure their students and graduates are familiar with the effects of poverty throughout our communities. Experiences like the Poverty Simulation provide significant perspective that assists in informing their practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the effects of that stress,\u201d Taylor said, \u201cwe also know there are critical periods of development where we can make a difference. Providers who are aware of the traumatic events their patients and clients have experienced can \u00a0change the conversation from \u2018What\u2019s wrong with you?\u2019 to \u2018What\u2019s happened to you?\u2019 And then\u2013\u201cAnd how can we help?’\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Fall, the College will host the Poverty Simulation for students\u2013providing another opportunity to build additional perspective and add to their trauma-information education. \u201cThis is powerful,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cBy ensuring our graduates leave our campus with an understanding of how trauma can impact the people they serve, they will be instruments of healing. We are preparing the next generation of providers to be just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The College plans to host the simulation again in the fall for students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running around a crowded gym carrying paper money and wearing a nametag detailing the role they were given,\u00a0nearly 100 Belmont College of Health Sciences and Nursing (CHSN) faculty and staff filled the Sports Science Center on Wednesday, April 25 to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,10,22,7,8,4,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exercise-science","category-chs","category-public-health","category-nursing","category-occupational-therapy","category-physical-therapy","category-social-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4709"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4897,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions\/4897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}