Occupational therapy students at a Michigan university plan to live among retirees as part of a social and communication-based research project.
Three Western Michigan University students are expected to move in Monday to a Grand Rapids-area Clark Retirement Community facility for 19 months.
The project builds on collaborations between the retirement community and the Kalamazoo university's regional location in Grand Rapids.
Organizers say research will include the impact of isolation and loneliness, an in-depth look at aging, and stereotypes of retirees by college students and vice versa.
Nancy Ayers is director of resident living of Clark on Keller Lake in Cascade Township, which has 80 senior residents.
She says the research "will help create better communication between the aging population and those who provide vital services to them."
