LEWISTON — A University of Maine student who plans on becoming a doctor specializing in geriatric medicine wanted to know what it’s like to be elderly.
So she spent a week living in a nursing home where staff treated her as if she was 85.
Jana Kenney spent about a week and a half living in the Russell Park Rehabilitation and Living Center.
The 22-year-old student was treated as if she had pneumonia and was recovering from a stroke. She used a wheelchair, wore an oxygen tube, ate pureed food, and had staff help her bathe and use the bathroom.
She tells the Sun Journal she felt helpless and embarrassed but the experience reaffirmed her ambitions.
Her stay was through the Learning by Living program offered by the University of New England.
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