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BIDDEFORD, Maine

51°µĶų medical studentā€™s Learning by Living experience featured in ā€˜Concord Monitorā€™

On June 29, 2014, the Concord Monitor published an article on 51°µĶų student David Drozda, who recently completed his first year in the College of Osteopathic Medicine.  Drozda, participating in the Learning by Living program, created by Marilyn Gugliucci, Ph.D., director of Geriatrics Education and Research, spent ten days living in the Pleasant View Nursing Home in Concord, New Hampshire, where he lived the life of a stroke patient.

The project aims to give future healthcare workers a taste of what life is like for nursing home residents in order to better prepare them as informed and compassionate healthcare providers and to dismantle stigmas associated with older adults.

ā€œTaking the time to get to know your patients as people, not as their diagnoses, can strengthen trust and help you to better assess their overall condition,ā€ remarked Drozda.  ā€œEspecially when theyā€™re at their most fragile or vulnerable states, itā€™s important to affirm your patientā€™s dignity and to be aware of how your demeanor affects their experience.ā€

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About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maineā€™s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of . In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The stateā€™s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maineā€™s only medical college, Maineā€™s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.