Healthcare workers got an idea of what their patients face through a recovery simulation event on Wednesday.
Armed with monopoly-style paper money and character sheets, participants rushed against the clock to meet needs like grocery shopping and finding work. One of these participants, Karen Toback, works for Lehigh Valley Physician Group as a clinical manager. She was amazed by how difficult the simulation was.
“I don’t have enough money to pay the rent, so I’m homeless, so I have to carry everything with me everywhere I go. I need to have medications filled next week – hopefully I’m going to have enough money to do that,” said Toback.
Participants in Schuylkill County’s Drug & Alcohol Program’s simulation saw what their patients experience during the first month of recovery from substance use disorder. Nursing student Kyla Guillermo said she felt overwhelmed by the lack of resources she had to meet her weekly goals.
“You don’t really know it [is] this amount of hassle to go through everything in a short amount of time,” said Guillermo. “Like, I feel like that’s so hard for every other [group] of people, but especially if you start with no ID – you just got out of jail – that’s really hard for [people in recovery]. And experiencing it right now…I hope people struggling with this will get through it really quick,” said Guillermo.
Several participants like Guillermo said they learned something that will influence how they work with patients in recovery. Nicole Miller, an elementary school counselor, said the simulation opened her eyes to what her students might be dealing with if a family member is in recovery.
“Someone in recovery has lots of roadblocks to go through and it takes a lot of resilience. And it’s important for everyone to experience this because you don’t know what someone is going through unless you’re in their shoes,” said Miller.
Wednesday’s event was Schuylkill County’s Drug & Alcohol Program’s second recovery simulation. They plan to hold a third event in spring 2024.
