Medical school hosts poverty simulation to help students gain perspective

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Students at the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine in Wichita are participating in a poverty simulation this week.

The simulation prepares students to better serve their future patients by building empathy and teaching the importance of comion in healthcare.

Participants each took a different simulated role of a person living in poverty and were tasked with providing basic necessities such as food, medical care and transportation for themselves over the course of a month.

“I was portraying a 70-year-old veteran whose only income was a pension and they gave a backstory that he had been injured and had PTSD and suspected that he was ill because of exposure to Agent Orange,” said Rachel Chase, a participant and first year medical student at KansasCOM.

The simulation gives the future doctors a chance to think about the circumstances that their patients might be dealing with.

“What I really want is for the people participating today to have a meaningful conversation about poverty so that we can all work together to find ways that we can relieve it right here in our community,” said Megan Bayer, the director of the simulation.