November: The End of the Beginning

 Picture of Sarge, yellow lab puppy with a Christmas Plaid Bandana 

    This month brought around the end to what felt like one of the quickest semesters' of my life. We finished up with renal/pulm and the GI/neoplasia modules. I really was able to secure my studying to a level I felt comfortable and satisfied with and noticed the difference in my grades paying off. Personally, I think I struggled the most with the fact that our lectures were taught by multiple different faculty, who all test and word questions differently, so I really had to be confident in the material. However, I think it made my studying better, and I enjoyed learning from so many different professors. They bring in so many different perspectives about medicine.

    Furthermore, I also did two big things for my community service. The first is the next chapter of a long volunteer journey. In mid- November, I welcomed in Sarge, my next puppy in training from United States Veterans Service Dog. I will have Sarge for 14-16 months and teach him many commands to prepare him to be a service dog for a veteran. This is especially dear to my heart, because the organization donates the dogs to the veterans. Most trained service dogs cost $30,000 to $50,000. We have started our basic training with learning his name, sit, potty training, kennel training, and basic socialization. I am not paid to do this, so it is a huge commitment, but the most amazing experience. I learned I was getting Sarge the same week I learned that my first dog, Ramsey, graduated as a skilled companion for a girl in Atlanta, Georgia with the organization Canine Companions for Independence. With my break, I will continue to train Sarge, and use the free time to socialize him to various public places. We also get to give them their vaccines, which is hopefully great practice for my future.

    Additionally, I helped work with a Honduras drive through Ochsner Therapy and Wellness. Hurricane Iota, a category 5, completed devastated Honduras and Nicaragua this past month. We organized a drive to get baby clothes, baby formula, medications, food, water, and other basic supplies to the people of Honduras. I both donated some baby clothes and non-perishables, and worked to collect the items and organize them to be sent. I was able to use my very basic conversational language to work and communicate with the hispanic community around here to help raise awareness. We sent all the items a week ago, and I just got word that it as delivered. 

Service Hours: 7

October: The Continuation of Hurricane Season

Onyx: USVSD Service Dog in Training 

       This month reminded us and taught us the importance of adaptability, an important life skill and medical school and career skill. We were threatened by several hurricanes, with one directly hitting us. This required moving around lectures, lecture cancellations, and reading by candlelight. I am still without power after day 3, and am capitalizing on the graciousness of classmates to let me charge devices and use wifi to write this blog post. This month's service required a combination of creativeness and resourcefulness, as I have not heard back from my several pen pals from last month, and social distancing is still in place. I worked with United States Veterans Service Dogs based out of Marrero as part of service work. We fostered several of their dogs in professional training for the storms, as they are outside the levee system and had to evacuate all three times. I attached a picture of one of the foster dogs. Onyx actually matched with a veteran, and she is perfecting skills before she goes home with him. Currently, we have Beaux, who is a crazy sweetheart that loves to hold things. We fed, groomed, and worked on commands and tasks with the dogs so that the storms would not interrupt their training. I also joined them to help out with socialization at the World War II museum. I worked with a dog in preforming tasks around other people, and getting them used to crazy sounds and noises that come from the unique exhibits at the museum. It is such a special experience to participate in the training and upkeep of the dogs, as they get to go on and provide independence to veterans. These dogs are incredible smart and talented, and is truly is amazing what we can teach them to do to help out. I raised a previous service dog for Canine Companions for Independence as well, and his brother recently matched with an 8 year old girl with cerebral palsy and her mom. The graduate team was exposed to COVID-19, and had to quarantine. I put together a care package to send to them, with the help of my classmates, and we prepared treats, cards, and other toys to help their quarantine experience. Her mom is a single mother, and had to work from home, while being a teacher, nurse, physical therapist, and mom, so we hope that the care package helped make things a little brighter.    

    School has been going well. I have seen an increase in my test score grades, and feel very comfortable with my refined study techniques. I have found a great little group to Zoom study with, and it is so helpful to have people to bounce off material with and break up the monotony of only being able to study at my desk. My cat, Hazelnut, also loves to join in on our studying and in lectures. The joys of Zoom learning! I am so grateful for the opportunity to participate in this program, as the professors are teaching us so much more than curriculum material. I hope the global pandemic is over soon, as I would love to get to know them more.

Here's to hoping the Gulf is done with storms.

Happy Halloween!

Total Oct Hours: 6

 

September: The Beginning

Photo of letters sending to my pen pals!

 

As we are closing in on the first month of classes already, it is time to reflect back on the past month. After having two modules down, I have solidified study habits and a study group. The famous anki has become my favorite study aid, and I enjoy swapping decks with my friends. Going forward, I plan on dedicating more time to learning the mechanisms of drugs, as that seems to be my weak spot. Luckily, I have friends who do not struggle as much, so we can both help each other with our areas of difficulty. One of my favorite things about this program so far is how collaborative it is. It is difficult to become as close with COVID19 and social distancing, but I can already tell some of my classmates are going to be friends for life.

With COVID, there is also a change to the way we are doing community service. I am hoping to get involved with reading to kindergarten classes virtually when the schools open up again. Because I went to undergrad at Tulane, I have lived in the New Orleans area for over four years, and working with education and kids is extremely important to me. There are great disparities in education between the charter school system and the private school system, and as education is extremely important in opening up opportunities and the mind, I want to contribute to this in a positive manner. In the meantime, I have made two pen pals with seniors. In one of my current jobs, I am a patient care tech on the general surg unit at Touro Infirmary, so I see older people coming from many senior and assisted living homes, who are oftentimes more lonely than anything else. So, the opportunity to share words with people, especially when friends and family cannot visit, is a wonderful experience. My grandfather lived in a nursing home for the last few years of his life, and I know even before COVID, that many of the residents do not have anyone outside to communicate with. I know it brings them a lot of joy to receive letters, especially because I received one of my cards immediately. It does not seem like a service when you are making friends. I definitely plan on keeping up with my two new friends throughout the semester, as we share about cats, books, and mysteries!

Community Service Hours: 3 as of 9/21/20