So Monday there was a recording breaking temp in downtown LA. The thermometer on USC got to 113 and then broke. Maybe it was 113 and stopped. Maybe it was hotter. Who knows. It was a fairly dry heat, which makes it tolerable.
Everything at the hospital is going well for the most part. We are moving to 12 hour shifts next week and will be on orientation for another 2 weeks and then possibly on our own after that. I am getting the hang of everything there...well, at least enough to make it through the day.
The weekend should be fairly laid back. Sally is coming down from Santa Barbara. We are going to a food truck convention. It should be awesome and delicious. Not a lot of plans for Friday or Sunday. It will be nice.
There simply aren't enough hours in the day.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Some Photos!
We went here on the weekend! It is the Pacific Ocean at San Pedro
My "Family Tree!" Front row (Standing on the ground) L->R is Holly, Adrienne and Laura. Back row is Me, Alli and Jess! They are so great!
St. Francis Medical Center Campus
St. Francis Medical Center Patient Tower. I work on the 8th floor of this building. It looks like it has a mean face on it made of glass. Scary!
This is where we live! It used to be a convent. We have plenty of extra bedrooms!
Last bunch of pre-internet posts!
First Week: I have survived my first week at SFMC. There is a lot to learn-the environment is unlike any floor I’ve ever been on. 10 out of 35 patients were in for gunshot wounds. This is the norm. The majority of our patients are Latino; a good portion of these patients don’t speak English or very little. A good deal of the staff speak Spanish and basically every nurse can communicate the basics with their patients. I am picking up quiet a bit already.
Of course, the charting is different, policies and procedures are different, medications, machines, etc. I am glad that I have had such enriching experiences as a student to give me competence and confidence regarding many technical skills.
There are so many new people to meet, but they are all very welcoming for the most part. My preceptors have been very good so far and I am definitely learning about the flow on the floor.
A couple of the days this week weren’t the greatest there, but they will get better. Friday was a great day; it was the day I knew I was going to be okay. There are so many new “languages” to learn: Spanish, SFMC nursing, CA culture; it is a lot to take in, but I have great support from my community, especially Holly who is also an RN on the same floor.
To shake off some of the stress Boyle Heights came over and we all went to Happy Hour at La Costa, a Mexican restaurant, which is right by our house. They have good food and drinks for great prices. We spent the night at MM (Miraculous Medal, the community I live in) after games and bonding.
Saturday MM went to Runyon Canyon with Boyle Heights and hiked up in the Hollywood Hills area. The hike was invigorating and the views of the hills and the houses were spectacular. We spent the evening at the BH house and again played games, drank tequila and antics ensued. The Hurricane occurred (Kent throwing a ton of stuff out of his room after getting soap poured on him and peanut butter smeared in his hair.) Jess got hit in the chest by the end of a bungee cord. No damage otherwise. Overall: A great night.
Today the two houses went to Will Rogers Beach with is right along the Pacific Coast Highway. Traffic wasn’t bad at all and the beach wasn’t very busy. The weather was excellent and the ocean was gorgeous. We spent about 4 hours there walking along the warm sand and soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, many of us soaked up a little too much and are quite red-myself included.
It was a fantastic weekend. Back to work tomorrow for what will hopefully be a great Monday!
Sometime during the first week of September:
Being welcomed and loving SFMC staff.
Today I admitted a patient from surgery. He along spoke Farsi. He came up to the floor after his surgery in a quite a bit of pain and nauseated. It took about an hour to get him settled and admitted. I utilized the language line: A 2 way phone that connects to a third party interpreter. I spoke into my phone, the interpreter translated and the patient answered. It was necessary to get the information I needed, but the whole thing is rather cumbersome and not something you would use for regular interactions. It was also challenging because he threw up at 4 different points in the admission process.
After all the paperwork was done, he was medicated for pain and resting more comfortably, I went to get a denture cup for him. As I walked out of the room I had moment when I thought to myself: “Hey, take a minute to really put yourself in this man’s shoes. He is in his 70s. His has lived in this country for 2 years, is in pain, just threw up 4 times after surgery and can’t understand English. How must that feel? How nerve wracking.”
I went back in the room, gave his wife the denture cup and then just stopped a few moments with them, held their hands, smiled and used a lot of assuring non-verbals. They both seemed to get the message that they would be ok. I walk in the room later and she holds up a camera and wants a picture with her husband and me. It was so great to know that I had helped them and gave them that reassurance. It was a powerful experience and I am sure it won’t be my last at SFMC.
Friday we had a BBQ at MM. BH came over, as did Darby, Ann, Sr. Camille various friends. There was lots of food. A success.
Saturday morning we went to the Getty Museum. There is a .75 mile tram ride up a mountain to get there. It was designed this way to make guests feel separated from their everyday lives. Indeed, this was the case. There were several pavilions with different levels featuring different exhibits. The numerous outdoor opportunities gave us stunning views of the mountains, cities and oceans. Inside, there were exhibits for paintings, drawings and photography. The latter I found to be the most profound. We also toured their botanical garden which was so wonderful when coupled with the spectacular architecture of The Getty. This is a place we may go to again.
Today we went to Venice Beach. The marine layer never really lifted while we were there so we didn’t get a lot of warm sunshine. Jess and I went and walked on some rocks along the water and saw some wicked animal life including: mussels, crabs, starfish, urchins and a couple of rays! It was so awesome to see these animals in their natural habitats. I’m also very glad that I didn’t get pinched by one of the many little crabs! Yikes!
Following Venice Beach we grabbed burgers and fries at In & Out Burger. If you’ve never been, I recommend it. It is fresh and delicious. I suggest getting your burger animal style for a messier and tastier experience. If you’re going to go, why not go all out.
9/9/10
Yesterday we had our second community night. We packed up sandwiches, chips and watermelon and went on a picnic! We made it home for some family bonding time and an episode of Three Sheets (A fun show about the world’s drinking cultures).
A few of us met up with some of the BH crew to go to the Art Walk in downtown LA. Basically, there are a bunch of artists-visual, performing, music, etc. that set up spaces in buildings and outside. It is roughly a 4 block stretch and is crowded with tons of people, music and great art. The area felt so alive! The art was fantastic. There were many amazing pieces. It was hard not to buy some and it was impossible to buy others ($$$$).
Afterwards, we went to this amazing coffeeshop called Syrup. Cheap and delicious Ice cream. Can’t go wrong. I had two scoops- Pear & Champagne along with Hefewezen Lemon. Yum.
We should be getting the internet tomorrow, which will be amazing. I can finally get some serious work done on loan deferment and hopefully clean up my desk of all of these papers.
9/11
It was a very chill Saturday morning, which was quite welcome. I got a bunch of cleaning and errands done. Around 5 went to Santa Barbara. It is about 100 miles right up the coast. We stayed with Alison and Sally, the two VSC volunteers there. We all went to a breast cancer walk cheering station sponsored by St. Vincent Medical Center. We spent 2.5 hours cheering for walkers. It was so much fun and rather tiring. Sally, Becca and I spent most of the time doing homemade cheers. It was pretty rad.
Oh! I have a camera now! I will be posting pictures soon!
9/19
We went to a drive in movie tonight-Sweet.
Of course, the charting is different, policies and procedures are different, medications, machines, etc. I am glad that I have had such enriching experiences as a student to give me competence and confidence regarding many technical skills.
There are so many new people to meet, but they are all very welcoming for the most part. My preceptors have been very good so far and I am definitely learning about the flow on the floor.
A couple of the days this week weren’t the greatest there, but they will get better. Friday was a great day; it was the day I knew I was going to be okay. There are so many new “languages” to learn: Spanish, SFMC nursing, CA culture; it is a lot to take in, but I have great support from my community, especially Holly who is also an RN on the same floor.
To shake off some of the stress Boyle Heights came over and we all went to Happy Hour at La Costa, a Mexican restaurant, which is right by our house. They have good food and drinks for great prices. We spent the night at MM (Miraculous Medal, the community I live in) after games and bonding.
Saturday MM went to Runyon Canyon with Boyle Heights and hiked up in the Hollywood Hills area. The hike was invigorating and the views of the hills and the houses were spectacular. We spent the evening at the BH house and again played games, drank tequila and antics ensued. The Hurricane occurred (Kent throwing a ton of stuff out of his room after getting soap poured on him and peanut butter smeared in his hair.) Jess got hit in the chest by the end of a bungee cord. No damage otherwise. Overall: A great night.
Today the two houses went to Will Rogers Beach with is right along the Pacific Coast Highway. Traffic wasn’t bad at all and the beach wasn’t very busy. The weather was excellent and the ocean was gorgeous. We spent about 4 hours there walking along the warm sand and soaking up the sun. Unfortunately, many of us soaked up a little too much and are quite red-myself included.
It was a fantastic weekend. Back to work tomorrow for what will hopefully be a great Monday!
Sometime during the first week of September:
Being welcomed and loving SFMC staff.
Today I admitted a patient from surgery. He along spoke Farsi. He came up to the floor after his surgery in a quite a bit of pain and nauseated. It took about an hour to get him settled and admitted. I utilized the language line: A 2 way phone that connects to a third party interpreter. I spoke into my phone, the interpreter translated and the patient answered. It was necessary to get the information I needed, but the whole thing is rather cumbersome and not something you would use for regular interactions. It was also challenging because he threw up at 4 different points in the admission process.
After all the paperwork was done, he was medicated for pain and resting more comfortably, I went to get a denture cup for him. As I walked out of the room I had moment when I thought to myself: “Hey, take a minute to really put yourself in this man’s shoes. He is in his 70s. His has lived in this country for 2 years, is in pain, just threw up 4 times after surgery and can’t understand English. How must that feel? How nerve wracking.”
I went back in the room, gave his wife the denture cup and then just stopped a few moments with them, held their hands, smiled and used a lot of assuring non-verbals. They both seemed to get the message that they would be ok. I walk in the room later and she holds up a camera and wants a picture with her husband and me. It was so great to know that I had helped them and gave them that reassurance. It was a powerful experience and I am sure it won’t be my last at SFMC.
Friday we had a BBQ at MM. BH came over, as did Darby, Ann, Sr. Camille various friends. There was lots of food. A success.
Saturday morning we went to the Getty Museum. There is a .75 mile tram ride up a mountain to get there. It was designed this way to make guests feel separated from their everyday lives. Indeed, this was the case. There were several pavilions with different levels featuring different exhibits. The numerous outdoor opportunities gave us stunning views of the mountains, cities and oceans. Inside, there were exhibits for paintings, drawings and photography. The latter I found to be the most profound. We also toured their botanical garden which was so wonderful when coupled with the spectacular architecture of The Getty. This is a place we may go to again.
Today we went to Venice Beach. The marine layer never really lifted while we were there so we didn’t get a lot of warm sunshine. Jess and I went and walked on some rocks along the water and saw some wicked animal life including: mussels, crabs, starfish, urchins and a couple of rays! It was so awesome to see these animals in their natural habitats. I’m also very glad that I didn’t get pinched by one of the many little crabs! Yikes!
Following Venice Beach we grabbed burgers and fries at In & Out Burger. If you’ve never been, I recommend it. It is fresh and delicious. I suggest getting your burger animal style for a messier and tastier experience. If you’re going to go, why not go all out.
9/9/10
Yesterday we had our second community night. We packed up sandwiches, chips and watermelon and went on a picnic! We made it home for some family bonding time and an episode of Three Sheets (A fun show about the world’s drinking cultures).
A few of us met up with some of the BH crew to go to the Art Walk in downtown LA. Basically, there are a bunch of artists-visual, performing, music, etc. that set up spaces in buildings and outside. It is roughly a 4 block stretch and is crowded with tons of people, music and great art. The area felt so alive! The art was fantastic. There were many amazing pieces. It was hard not to buy some and it was impossible to buy others ($$$$).
Afterwards, we went to this amazing coffeeshop called Syrup. Cheap and delicious Ice cream. Can’t go wrong. I had two scoops- Pear & Champagne along with Hefewezen Lemon. Yum.
We should be getting the internet tomorrow, which will be amazing. I can finally get some serious work done on loan deferment and hopefully clean up my desk of all of these papers.
9/11
It was a very chill Saturday morning, which was quite welcome. I got a bunch of cleaning and errands done. Around 5 went to Santa Barbara. It is about 100 miles right up the coast. We stayed with Alison and Sally, the two VSC volunteers there. We all went to a breast cancer walk cheering station sponsored by St. Vincent Medical Center. We spent 2.5 hours cheering for walkers. It was so much fun and rather tiring. Sally, Becca and I spent most of the time doing homemade cheers. It was pretty rad.
Oh! I have a camera now! I will be posting pictures soon!
9/19
We went to a drive in movie tonight-Sweet.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A few more retro-entries!
So I've only got a few more to post and then all entries will be fresh. I have a camera so there will eventually be pictures. Here's what's been happening lately: Holly and I have had hospital orientation so we are off the floor for the week. Monday and Tuesday were General and W-F have been nursing specific. It is pretty boring, but last week on the floor was stressful, so it was a nice break. I am definitely ready to go back.
We are volunteering at a St. Francis community health fair Saturday. We'll be taking blood glucose and cholesterol levels, height, weight, blood pressure and bone density scans. I will put more info up about our hospital later. Oh, and hopefully a picture too. It is a new building that is gorgeous. It looks like an angry face on the front though the way the glass is aligned. I'll point that out again when I post it.
Laura made quesadillas tonight. 4 family dinner of the week! We are going out tomorrow (a once-a-monthish occasion) and then doing movies and games at the house. We are calling it Mammaz and Pappaz friday. Sweet. Here are the old entires:
8.15.10
Today was our first community Sunday Funday! We went to the Beach at Santa Monica with the Boyle Heights crew. I am finding that I really don’t mind driving here thus far. 4-6 lanes on average for the many interstates of traffic moving 50-65 typically. Not too shabby. The weather was overcast at first, but after about 45 minutes it got nice and sunny. Alli and I walked the pier and then to the third street promenade. We saw break dancers, a guy tutting and the really cool dinosaur sculpture fountains! There is so much creativity and life!
The various groups met up and went to frozen yogurt before splitting up. When we got back we did some serious work on arranging/cleaning of the house. There is a lot to be done to make it more of a volunteer house rather than a convent. We’ll get there.
8.15.10
Holly and I both have not yet been cleared to start work. We also won’t be on tomorrow. If we don’t get a call tomorrow morning we are going to get our site supervisor involved. We still don’t have our internet access code, which really puts a damper on things. We spent a portion of the day trying to figure out where to bring out recycling. That was an epic fail.
We did have a few victories today. We got groceries, Holly did some yard work; We cleaned the recycling bins which were left NASTY from last year and I opened a checking account.
Hopefully tomorrow my scrubs will be in, internet will be obtained and we will be cleared to go in Thursday. Hopefully.
8.20.10
Holly and I had a very frustrating Friday Morning. We spent three hours at the hospital to get a few things done that in total took about 20 minutes. We basically arrived early to wait. Ridiculous. Long story short is that there are some communication issues that caused us to not start work until a week after everyone else.
That night our house and the Boyle heights house (minus Adrienne and Catie) went to a Dodgers game. Laura got us free tickets through her service site. It was a lot of fun. The Dodgers lost, which really didn’t matter since most of us didn’t follow that team. It was just a lot of fun to get out of the house and do something fun (and Free!)
Saturday we went to the Library to access the internet for the first time in weeks. A few of us, myself included, needed to access some information. It was rather slow and we realized getting the information for deferment is not easy. We were very stressed to say the least and still have to work out some of the kinks.
Saturday night we went to the Boyle Heights house for a dual birthday party for Adrienne and Benhan. The Santa Barbara house came as well. It was great to see them and spend time together.
Laura, Jess, Alli and I went to Malibu Point Beach today. Traffic was HORRIBLE but the beach was worth it. There were beautiful mountains, the ocean, palm trees, sandy beaches and a clear day (which all days have been). It is a big surfing beach. We followed one of Laura’s friends there who surfs. It was really cool to watch
I’m hoping to snag some pictures from the roommates to post on here since I don’t have my camera with me. I’m not entirely sure where it went.
We are volunteering at a St. Francis community health fair Saturday. We'll be taking blood glucose and cholesterol levels, height, weight, blood pressure and bone density scans. I will put more info up about our hospital later. Oh, and hopefully a picture too. It is a new building that is gorgeous. It looks like an angry face on the front though the way the glass is aligned. I'll point that out again when I post it.
Laura made quesadillas tonight. 4 family dinner of the week! We are going out tomorrow (a once-a-monthish occasion) and then doing movies and games at the house. We are calling it Mammaz and Pappaz friday. Sweet. Here are the old entires:
8.15.10
Today was our first community Sunday Funday! We went to the Beach at Santa Monica with the Boyle Heights crew. I am finding that I really don’t mind driving here thus far. 4-6 lanes on average for the many interstates of traffic moving 50-65 typically. Not too shabby. The weather was overcast at first, but after about 45 minutes it got nice and sunny. Alli and I walked the pier and then to the third street promenade. We saw break dancers, a guy tutting and the really cool dinosaur sculpture fountains! There is so much creativity and life!
The various groups met up and went to frozen yogurt before splitting up. When we got back we did some serious work on arranging/cleaning of the house. There is a lot to be done to make it more of a volunteer house rather than a convent. We’ll get there.
8.15.10
Holly and I both have not yet been cleared to start work. We also won’t be on tomorrow. If we don’t get a call tomorrow morning we are going to get our site supervisor involved. We still don’t have our internet access code, which really puts a damper on things. We spent a portion of the day trying to figure out where to bring out recycling. That was an epic fail.
We did have a few victories today. We got groceries, Holly did some yard work; We cleaned the recycling bins which were left NASTY from last year and I opened a checking account.
Hopefully tomorrow my scrubs will be in, internet will be obtained and we will be cleared to go in Thursday. Hopefully.
8.20.10
Holly and I had a very frustrating Friday Morning. We spent three hours at the hospital to get a few things done that in total took about 20 minutes. We basically arrived early to wait. Ridiculous. Long story short is that there are some communication issues that caused us to not start work until a week after everyone else.
That night our house and the Boyle heights house (minus Adrienne and Catie) went to a Dodgers game. Laura got us free tickets through her service site. It was a lot of fun. The Dodgers lost, which really didn’t matter since most of us didn’t follow that team. It was just a lot of fun to get out of the house and do something fun (and Free!)
Saturday we went to the Library to access the internet for the first time in weeks. A few of us, myself included, needed to access some information. It was rather slow and we realized getting the information for deferment is not easy. We were very stressed to say the least and still have to work out some of the kinks.
Saturday night we went to the Boyle Heights house for a dual birthday party for Adrienne and Benhan. The Santa Barbara house came as well. It was great to see them and spend time together.
Laura, Jess, Alli and I went to Malibu Point Beach today. Traffic was HORRIBLE but the beach was worth it. There were beautiful mountains, the ocean, palm trees, sandy beaches and a clear day (which all days have been). It is a big surfing beach. We followed one of Laura’s friends there who surfs. It was really cool to watch
I’m hoping to snag some pictures from the roommates to post on here since I don’t have my camera with me. I’m not entirely sure where it went.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Updates from August!
So knowing I wouldn't have the internet for a while (I really thought it was only going to be a week or two-not an entire month!) I made regular updates in word documents. I am copy pasting the first few here now and will get the rest up really soon! I didn't really proof them, but I tried to cut out some really mundane details so it may be a bit choppy.
DAY 1
I stayed out rather late the Sunday before my flight Monday morning with some great friends from high school; it was really great to see them and be out and about in MN. After a few hours of sleep, Amanda D. took me to the airport. I had rearranged my bags hoping they were in the right weight zone. I was 7 pounds over. Fortunately, Holly’s mom was at the airport and I was able to send a framed photo with her, which she will send with Holly’s stuff. I rearranged briefly and got it to 50.0 (Otherwise 75 dollars extra!)
The flights went very well. We had about an hour layover in Denver. It took us about 2 minutes to get from our exit gate to our next gate, which was very nice. We arrived at LAX about 10:45 PST. Darby, a VSC west volunteer from last year met us at Baggage claim. We circled the airport/parked for about another hour or so and picked up 3 others. We went to the De Paul Evangelization Center-where our first week’s retreat is to be held. We were the first ones to arrive out of 20.
Sr. Camille, our director, met us very warmly. We had lunch and got a chance to nap. When I woke up a few hours later everyone had arrived. We all got to meet each other, ask about where we are all from, our service sites and where we will be living. There are four houses; 2 in LA, 1 in San Fran and 1 in Santa Barbara.
Everybody in the program seems really great. I am going for a jog with a few people in the morning before we have breakfast. Paperwork and things of that nature tomorrow morning. Now it is time to get a good night’s rest!
Day 2
I woke up at 7 this morning and went running with some of the others. We are doing the same tomorrow.
A brief overview of some VSC West policies, lunch and a break followed. We got together again to learn more about what it means to be in a Vincentian. We talked more about what it means to live simply, which was great to get an idea of what everybody thought about simple living and how that would be played out in our communities. Following that, we separated into our communities (there are 4-I am a part of the Miraculous Medal community).
The six of us got together to work on our community covenant. We got an even more specific idea of what some of our expectations are and got to know each other a bit more. I am very excited about my community. I think we will be able to learn and grow very much together.
Day 3
We went on another good jog this morning. It was a long morning after breakfast working on AmeriCorps paperwork. Unfortunately, there is more to come with having to get information about my loans and lenders for my federal loans and filling out paperwork for all of my private loans. It will be a hassle, but a major necessity, of course.
After a much needed lunch break, we talked about finances in the house. I was designated the bookkeeper for our house and will be in charge of collecting receipts and money from everyone for the community account. Each person puts in $165/mo (out of their $390 stipend) and we spend it community needs such as the car, gasoline, etc. We are all figuring out our responsibilities.
We had a great break where we were able to relax and get to know each other in small groups. The MM community got a great photo in a tree. First Family Photo!!
Some VSC Westers from last year came and talked about community. It was a hoot!
Off to bed. Last full day tomorrow!
Day 4
We all attended a sending forth Mass, which our site contacts attending. Holly and I met Gilda, our site supervisor, and ate supper with her and a couple of VPs from SFMC.
I already knew I liked Gilda from the phone conversation we’ve had, but today I really know it is going to be great. She is helpful and excited about what she does. She oversees a Mobile Unit for the hospital that does public health screening as well as a separate wellness project. Both of which I would love to volunteer for
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