Media Advisory: Poverty workshop to show UB medical students the challenges of living in poverty

Students from the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences will learn about the day-to-day challenges facing the poor as part of a poverty simulation workshop to be held from 1-5 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 15, in 105 Harriman Hall on the UB South Campus.

The exercise is designed to increase the students' understanding of poverty and its implications for health, safety and well-being, as well as the daily frustrations faced by low-income families and inform their careers as health care professionals.

Students will be grouped into "families" and each will be assigned a role, from single parent trying to pay the bills to a child trying to make it to school every day, all with limited time constraints. Volunteers from UB and the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County will help carry out the simulation by playing various roles and acting through scenarios with the students as they navigate the details of their lives, including housing, the food bank, school, work and personal obligations.

The simulation is particularly apt in Buffalo, where an estimated one-third of city residents are poor, and face similar conditions on a daily basis. To see video of a poverty simulation workshop conducted elsewhere, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jX2IlkNHTs.

Press arrangements: Diane Bessel of the United Way at 887-2717 and David Holmes, clinical associate professor of family medicine, onsite at 697-1884.