Outpatient Rotations

Let me first say, I have always prided myself on loving a fast-paced, demanding work environment. After 10 weeks of inpatient, I am remiss to say I am absolutely thrilled in be in an outpatient setting with cancellations, down time, emailing, chatting, and not running around the hospital like a chicken with its head caught off. Yes, I am thoroughly enjoying starting my days at 10 AM, 11 AM, and even 1 PM! It's been a much needed break. This week I've been working with 2 Heart Healthy dietitians. The adult cardiovascular dietitian, Amy Mendez, and the pediatric dietitian, Janet Carter. Amy is one the most professional, well educated, well spoken dietitians I have had the privilege to work with. She does an amazing job at counseling patients who are often quite challenging. People don't want to admit what they eat! Let alone listen to someone advising them to stop eating their vegetables with lard in them.

Working with Janet reminded me of how much I enjoy children. I think I like working with them nutritionally because its teaching healthy habits at a early age. Although her population of children are already extremely overweight, she works with them to change their lifestyle. The most frustrating situations are those where the parents refuse to stop eating at Bojangles each morning or cutting the whole milk out of the house. It's sad when the parents are the biggest barrier in losing weight.

Jo ended in Peds this week which she was very happy about. She is currently in the rotation with Amy/Janet while I am back into my scrubs....

"The Man"

It's amazing what you learn when hospital accredidation officials are on sight. JACHO has been threatening site visits for quite some time, but today was our lucky day! All morning people were frantically reviewing patient saftey protocol, mopping floors, and scouting out the nearest fire extinguisher. Did you know that in case of fire there is a large coat locked behind the nurses station with multiple pockets in which to stash babies during evacuation. True story.

I don't want to be a frog either

Well as I went to update you all of our latest adventures, I noticed that Jo beat me to it! I don't know how i will ever beat her frog story, that left me cracking up as I was just as surprised with this analogy as you probably were. And yes, I laughed, but it is another reminder of why I love my roommate oh so much. Jo - i hope you don't end up cozy in a pot of boiling water either! I'll be sure to come dump you out of it if need be.

On that note... I too enjoyed Low Country Food Bank. It is an amazing business that connects to many aspects of nutrition - provides food to those who qualify, educate families on nutrition, have backpack programs and gardening programs for children. I spent the summer learning my fair share about the perks of gardening from the Alessi Family Farmers! I felt so well knowledged in the benefits of growing a vegetable garden. It is truly amazing how much just one zucchini plant can produce, I swear I almost turned into a zucchini this summer... Anyways, we were able to see Low Country Food Bank's on site garden and help our director with some manual work. At first I was not pleased to put out in the "cold" (60 degree) weather to do manual labor, but ended up enjoying it. We raked, played with wheelbarrows, shoveled, transported plants, and ran around to keep the blood flowing! This was a small orientation to our future project with LCFB. In case you were wondering, they grew - bananas, lettuce, jalepenos, peppers, eggplant, pineapples, apples, lemons, and a variety of herbs. We will be making a gardening tool kit for LCFB to use in educating families/kids on the benefits of gardening.

And so the bubble bursts...

As Julie mentioned yesterday (aren't you impressed 2 blogs in a row!!), our usual Monday class was replaced today with a trip to the Low Country Food Bank. It was a glorious change from our normal morning routine! We slept past 8:00 and parked in an almost empty parking lot! I even had time to fry an egg while Julie watched the Today show. Life's simple pleasures.

Around 9:30, Karen met Julie and I at our apartment and we set off to the food bank. I was under the impression it was just a short drive into neighboring West Ashley. As we drove further and further, eyes pealed for Azalea Street, I began to smell the paper mill. If you've never smelled a paper mill, I would not encourage you to seek out the experience. When I told mom it was the worst smell I had ever encountered she replied, "Yes, second only to a chicken farm." I'll take her word for it. Overcast days in Charleston often blow in a hint of wet paper smell, but as we drove it became overpowering. We were not on James Island anymore, nor were we in West Ashely. We had crossed into North Charleston.


It wasn't just the smell that alerted us to our arival. The whole atmosphere was different. Trendy restaurants and historic homes were replaced with Church's chicken and cookie cutter, cement block homes painted in faded pastels. Groups of men mingled on front porches or at the edge of the road. It was suddenly so clear that not everyone in Charleston "lives on vancation" as I so often feel I do. There is an entrie segment of the population that lives their lives hidden from the cobblestone streets and waterfront homes. They have easier access to Church's chicken and the Lil' Cricket gas station than Subway and Publix. It sounds sterotypical, but this morning it was blatant.

As I sat at the Low Coutry Food Bank listening to the nutrition director talk about the number of underserved residents in the 10 coastal counties, and her dream to one day end hunger and shut down the foodbank, using the space as a community center, I felt a bit like that frog analogy. You know the one? You put a frog in a pot of boiling water and he jumps out, but you put a frog in luke warm water and he sits there warm and happy until he croaks. It occurred to me that I first fell in love with nutrition because I was outraged at the correlation between poverty and obesity. I was determined to change things. Lately, I feel like I've lost that zeal. Who knows what life holds, but today I decided I certainly don't ever want to wake up to find myself cozy in a pot of boiling water.

i guess we can skip the fall?

Hello readers! Jo blogged for us last week - so I think it's my turn. October is a beautiful month in Charleston. Yes, I am still struggling to grasp the fact that it truly is this warm! We had one day of "cold" last week in which we threw on our prettiest dress coats and made the trek into work where we counted down the minutes for the bus to arrive while standing in our heels. Other than that, it's been tank tops and sunshine. No gold and orange leaves yet, I don't think palm trees change colors!

My 2week Pediatric rotation is over (while Jo is just about to begin her final week). It proved to be difficult and took some time to adjust to new calculations and concepts. It is unbelievable how many calories little babies need for their weight. The past 2 weeks had some highs... seeing a little kid able to leave the hospital. But also many lows, listening to the doctors tell a family their baby may not make it. Although I will be the first one to volunteer for babysitting, I don't think Pediatrics will be my main focus. Too sad for this intern.

My main project for the year is National Nutrition Month (in March). I had my first meeting with our head dietitian to discuss events. The theme is "Nutrition From the Ground Up". Needless to say, lots of vegetable and gardening will be involved! One of our idea includes price cuts for healthy menu items to encourage better choices in the cafeteria. We are also contemplating a frequent buyer card - receiving a stamp for each healthy item purchased. Each card can be turned in for a raffle/free menu item. What do you all think?! Updates to come... it's a few months away but takes so much planning, I'm trying to start early

I think many of the interns are feeling a bit burned out. Projects are starting to pile on, rotations are proving more tasking, preceptors are more critical, and we are fully exhausted. To relieve some stress, we had an intern night where we watched the Proposal (cute chick flick) and another night of getting pizza at Mellow Mushroom. This weekend Jo, Shelly, and I volunteered at Habitat for Humanity. It felt awesome to help out and use the gift of our hands. Jo was in charge of cleaning the inside of the house (poor thing - she had just cleaned ours the day before!) Shelly and I touched up on our gardening skills by planting shrubs in the front yard. I was hesitant at first since I'm not very good at manual labor but it felt great to do something outside my comfort zone. Jo and I came home to a nice afternoon nap then out to watch UK football. GO CATS! (I knew Jo would like that in here)

Tomorrow we head to Low Country Food Bank to begin Jo's main project. We will be teaching the value of gardening to local families. The details are unclear, but after tomorrow I'm sure we'll have more to tell!

Habitat For Humanity

Time flys when you're having fun!

One month ago today Julie updated our blog. I believe that calls for an apology to you, our loyal readers. Perhaps we flatter ourselves and you have not been terribly distrought over the lack of jandjintern updates. Regardless, I assure you that I am back at the computer with a renewed committment to this little cyberspace venture.

So, for a quick recap. In the last month Julie and I both began our pediatric rotations, we splurged and purchased wireless, we turned on our heat in the apartment (I was a bit heated over the temperature drop which Julie only acknowledged as "a bit chilly"), Julie has officially replaced her frozen yogurt obession with Sonic diet cherry limeades (I take full responsibility for that one), my parents came to town and I was completely spoiled and refreshed by their company, Kentucky beat Auburn for the first time since 1966, Julie is bringing back classic Hollywood with bright red lipstick and pulls it off like no one else can, and gone are the days of no homework.

All and all it's been a good month. We have established routine and are learning to manage our time while still managing to have fun. There is always time for fun, even if it is a quick trip to Sonic...or Starbucks :) We are so spoiled by our sweet friends and family that keep us supplied with giftcards for that much needed caffeine fix!

This month certainly had it's challenges, though. Julie and I were both becoming quite confindent in our clinical abilities, working largely independently of our preceptors. We found pediatrics to be a bit of a blow to our self esteem. Working with babies so tiny is a completely different ball game! The recommendations, calculations and measurements, and the products used are all different. Suddenly we were not writing notes without critique or approaching charts confident we could find the necessary information. Academic challenge was met with increased emotional demand. Somehow it is a little harder to walk into an ICU lined with cribs instead of beds or to watch a mother standing over a child who can't understand pain or to watch a child surrounded by IVs but no parent. These days I leave the hospital acutely aware of what a fragile blessing life and health really are.

Ok, bedtime. That will have to suffice for a months worth of updating. Stay tuned for old details and new stories!

The Girls enjoying a night on the town! 

Oysters, the 1 food John Brandon might actually refuse!

I tackled my first bunch of collards. It's a right of passage. I'm afraid I refused to use bacon fat, thus failing to be a true southerner.