Michigan Education

To learn about aging, college students move into retirement community

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published October 25, 2016 at 5:33 PM EDT

"I would like to talk to them and learn from them and maybe pass some of my wisdom on to them too," Charlie Lundstrom said of the students, his new roommates.

Our conversation with Nancy Hock, Charlie Lundstrom and Colette Chapp. Hock is a professor at Western Michigan University in the Department of Occupational Therapy. Lundstrom is a resident at Clark Retirement Community on Keller Lake, and Chapp is both a student in Western Michigan's occupational therapy program and a resident at Clark.

While their friends may have been moving back to dorms or apartments to start the new school year, a group of occupational therapy students from Western Michigan University moved their things into their new rooms at theClark Retirement Communityon Keller Lake.

It’s one of the first research projects of its kind in this country: three college students living side by side with senior citizens.

Nancy Hock with the Department of Occupational Therapy at Western Michigan University joined us today to talk about the project.

We also spoke with Charlie Lundstrom, a resident at Clark Retirement Community on Keller Lake, and Western Michigan occupational therapy student Colette Chapp about their first impressions, apprehensions, and goals for the experience.

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