HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Hofstra University’s School of Health Professions and Human Services recently conducted a poverty simulation event in which students were assigned roles and scenarios — gender, age, family roles, employment, and housing status — and were required to manage their finances and make ends meet for a fictional four-week period.

Graduate Occupational Therapy student Victoria Haas of Fanwood was among nearly 70 participating students from graduate programs including Audiology, Occupational Therapy, Health Administration and Health Informatics.

As part of the simulation, some students were assigned jobs and were required to use their limited transportation vouchers to get there. Some needed a job and had to visit the unemployment office and various social services to survive. Some students had families with children for whom they needed to arrange care. All the while, the simulation provided unexpected obstacles to navigate — like evictions, thefts, incarcerations, health issues, or loss of a partner due to death, divorce, domestic violence or abandonment.

“The family scenarios assigned to the students are real families who have experienced real challenges. The simulation is not a game. It attempts to bridge the gap from misconception to understanding by exposing our students to the nuanced consequences of poverty on daily living and health,” said Corinne Kyriacou, vice dean of the School of Health Professions and Human Services at Hofstra University and associate professor of population health.

Hofstra University features approximately 175 undergraduate programs and approximately 200 graduate programs in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Business, Communication, Education, Health Sciences, Engineering and Applied Science, and Honors studies, as well as a School of Law and a School of Medicine. For more information, visit hofstra.edu.