Community Health Part 1

I went to my first community health project this past Sunday. It was quite the experience. We worked a health fair at a church in a community of Hispanic, Haitian & African American population. The turnout was very good.

We had a group of about 12 from my class. We were each assigned a task for the day: some were assigned to do hearing test, some were assigned to give out literature, and I and 3 others were assigned to do BP checks.

I interviewed each person that came to me, took a brief health history, and handed out literature. I took about 30 blood pressures in the hours we were there. The people at the fair were very nice, and happy to see us there.

There were lots of children at the fair, and the church rented a bouncehouse to entertain them. The bounce house was located directly behind my chair. All day long I had kids bouncing around behind me. I, being the protective mother I am, would turn from time to time to check on the kids, especially since none of the parents were watching their kids.

Close to the end of the day, a very large child was in the bounce house (10 yrs old and weighed over 200 pounds). Along with him were about 12 other kids, all much smaller than he. Each time the larger kid would lose his footing, he would end up falling into the side. Not such a big deal when it was just him. However, I turned around to check on the kids again, to see the entire back corner of the bouncehouse collapsing, and kids were jumping out of it as fast as they could. I told my classmate, "We've got a situation," and jumped from my seat and ran around to the part that was falling down. Thank god that this thing did not have a proper roof. Because the big kid had lost his footing again, and fell into the corner and trapped two kids underneath him.

My classmate helped trying to get the bigger kid out, and when he got him standing upright, I see a little boy with eyes as big as saucers, trying to catch his breath. I told him to grab my hand, and got him out. As he was coming out, I see two legs with the rest of the body obscured by the bigger child and bouncehouse. Dan pulled the bigger kid out, and there was a little girl stuck underneath him. We got her out, and she was shaken up, but ok.

After that episode, a parent finally started keeping watch over the kids. I told the bigger child that he was too big to be in there with so many other kids. And I felt bad, because my own son is very big (tall, not heavy) and had always been not allowed to go on things (rides, attractions,etc) that are meant for his age group because of his size.

So all in all it was an experience.

W. :)

We have an instructor!

We get to go to the hospital to be oriented in the morning. I am so excited. More on that tomorrow.

I've been reading, reading, reading. There is so much to cover in such a very short time. We only are in peds for 7 weeks, and two of the weeks are already gone. We've had one class and no clinicals.

W. :)

So, one lecture down...

My teacher is a little tiny Asian lady. She is very funny. She knows her stuff, however, you can't ask her any questions or she gets completely thrown off.

I am like a sponge in this class. Peds is so what I want to do. I really want to get in there and get going. I am so disheartened that we don't have a clinical instructor.

Community health is going to be cool. My friend Dan & I are going to be working the Special Olympics in February. And we are doing a couple of health fairs, too.

Work is getting interesting. Someone is going on disability, and it looks like I will be taking over most of their responsibilities. That means a job title change, more $$.

Family is good. All's quite on the homefront. D seems to be having a better time at school. W. is a big foreman now, and works very hard and very long hours.

On the resolution front, things are going well. Water, water, water. Walk, walk, walk. Now my bras are too big. Why are they always the first to go?

W. :)

I can see clearly now....

My school is run by a bunch of pooh-flinging monkeys.

Saturday we arrived to school to find out that we have no clinical instructor for our group. This means that unless they can hire someone in the next two weeks, we will not be going to the hospital. Thankfully, we have no school next weekend because of the MLK holiday.

W. :)

Grrrrr.........

I hate my school!!!!! Why can't they get there sh*t together?!?!

First they change the day of the class at the last minute. Then the send an email out on the Frday before class starts to say, "Oh by the way working people, you have to figure out a way to get every Monday off two hours early." Grrrrrrr.....

This semester is not off to a good start.

W.

There are saboteurs everywhere.....

I work in the athletics department at the Very Expensive University. It should be the healthiest place on earth, right? Every day there should be health and fitness and not eating a bunch of crap, right? If only that were so....

I thought working in a doctor's office was bad with the food, and the candy, and the lunches. It has nothing on this place. At first it seemed nice, all the free lunches. Then my butt increased exponentially to the number of lunches we were provided.

This week has been good and bad on the resolution front. I am walking tons. I am eating right 90% of the time. I am drinking water all the time, and have not had a soda since Monday. (A real feat, considering I usually have 3-4 a day.)

However, we have 3 candy jars in my office, one of which sits in my sight line. (I have not had one piece.) My boss keeps offering cookies and candy. (I have refrained) My other boss bought us ice cream yesterday. (I relented, and then had a salad for dinner.) Plus they've had sandwiches brought in every day this week. (I've been bringing my lunch.)It's a never ending test of willpower.

This morning my son and I walked the mile and half to school/work. My son asked why were we walking. I told him that it's good for us, and I want to be healthy to be able to watch him grow up. He asked if I was trying to get skinny. I told him that that was not my primary concern, being around to raise him was. He said, can we walk every day to school? I love that kid.

Last night was supposed to be the start of class for us. As has been typical for my school, they have once again rearranged our schedules at the last minute. Now we start class on Monday (not entirely a bad thing), and we have our first clinical this Saturday. My clinical site is way far from for peds. I will be leaving my house before 6 AM. This will be brutal. However, I wanted to go to a children's hospital for this rotation, so we do what we must. We got our syllabus for the class (13 chapters to read for the first day), and I went and bought my book last night. I started my reading last night to get ahead, now that I have some extra days.

Tonight I have to get my stuff ready for clinical. Make sure I have everything I need, my health records, my uniform ironed, and all my pocket crap and pins, etc. I am excited, and terrified, again. But mostly exicted.

W. :)

You say you want a resolution....

For 2006...

Each day I will resolve to:

Make healthy choices
Study more
Eat less
Walk more (I bought a pedometer)
Drink soda less
Drink water more
Eat sugar less
Eat fiber more
Spend less
Bring lunch from home more
Knit more
Stress less

My goals for this year:

Lose at least 20% of my body weight
Get the best grades I possibly can to bring my GPA back up.
Walk to/from work 3 days per week

W. :)