Four colleges in upstate New York have formed a service-learning consortium to provide service to the elderly. Students in the colleges nursing, social work, and pre-medical programs enroll in a seminar on care for the elderly team-taught by faculty from Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Keuka College, Finger Lakes College and Empire State College. The seminar addresses various topics related to the physical and emotional care of the frail elderly. As part of the course, each student spends fifty hours with two different elderly adults in conversation and running errands, helping residents to remain living comfortably in their own homes. By working with two different individuals, students have points of comparison that are meant to reduce unintended over-generalizations about the elderly.
