WATERVILLE — Until now, Kara Janes could only imagine what it is like to live in a nursing home.
Now, she’s getting a first-hand view.
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Janes, 44, is living for 10 days at Lakewood Continuing Care Center on Kennedy Memorial Drive as part of a University of New England program called Learning by Living.
“You can sit in classes and write papers and take tests, but you really need to enmesh yourself in the environment of the people you’ll be taking care of,” Janes, a graduate student in the School of Social Work at the University of Maine, said Tuesday.
She’s getting a good taste already, after having checked in Monday as a patient who has had a stroke and suffers paralysis of her right side.
On Tuesday, she maneuvered her wheelchair awkwardly through the halls with her left hand and foot. She ate in the community dining room with other residents.
Her diet consists of pureed food, since her recovery plan includes learning to eat again. On Tuesday, it was clam chowder, green beans, meat loaf, mashed potato and strawberry ice cream.
“You’re expecting the regular consistency, so it’s hard to sort of swallow actually, even though it’s pureed,” Janes said, as she spooned food to her lips.
She sleeps in a hospital-type bed and because she is considered at risk for falling, a nurse checked on her frequently during the night when she moved around a lot in her bed, sounding alarms at the desk.
“When they woke me up for the first time, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, where am I?’ I’m not used to getting my vitals checked constantly or asked if I need to go to the bathroom.”
She has chosen not to have any visits from friends or family — even her husband and three children — to get the full experience of feeling isolated, she said.
“I’m hoping I feel loneliness, abandonment; those are really hard to handle. I told people, ‘I don’t want visitors,’ so I really get the whole effect.”
She also had the option of wearing a swimsuit while being bathed like other residents, but chose not to. Understanding privacy and dignity issues the elderly experience is important, she said.
The Learning by Living program was developed by Marilyn Gugliucci, director of Geriatrics and Research at the College of Osteopathic Medicine at University of New England.
The program seeks to give students studying to be physicians or other health professionals a first-hand experience of living as an older adult with a health condition, according to Gugliucci.
“In the end, these students will hopefully become better care providers because of this personal experience and unique connection they have made living as a resident,” Gugliucci said in a statement issued by Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems.
Lakewood is part of Inland Hospital and is on the Inland campus off Kennedy Memorial Drive. They are part of Eastern Maine Healthcare, which operates Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, as well as several other long-term care facilities around the state.
Janes is the only social work student to take part in the Learning by Living program; all others are medical students, according to Lakewood’s administrator, Shannon Coro.
Coro said Tuesday that she has always wished and hoped to be part of such a program, which is a good way to teach providers what residents experience, day-to-day in a care facility.
“It’s sensitivity training,” she said.
When she received an email from Gugliucci, who was looking for training sites, Coro responded immediately, saying she wanted Lakewood to be part of the program, she said. The Lakewood Board of Directors was enthusiastic about taking part in the project, which costs the facility a few thousand dollars.
But Coro said it is worth it; the program also benefits Lakewood staff.
“We’re lucky to be participating in the program,” she said. “We’ll be doing our own follow-up with staff here to get their feedback. I look at it as a two-way street.”
For Janes, who has a bachelor’s degree in social work from Springfield College, working in geriatrics is a natural fit.
She grew up spending a lot of time with older people and enjoyed their company, she said.
“Instead of baby-sitting, I worked with older people in town,” she said. “Aging people have lived their life. They’re so full of wisdom. They have extraordinary stories. It’s great how they’ve gone through heartache and come out on the other side, stronger and able to share that wisdom. They’re also more accepting of people.”
On Tuesday, Janes played checkers with and lost to Lakewood’s resident champion, Mildred Richardson, 82.
Janes shares a room with Ruth Stanley, 92, a former first-grade teacher.
Stanley said she is happy to have a young roommate who is a student learning her craft, hands-on.
“It doesn’t bother me a bit because I’m used to professional people anyway,” Stanley said. “She is getting right into it, playing the part. She should understand better, being right into it.”
Amy Calder — 861-9247
acalder@centralmaine.com
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