Day 16

I went to admissions again today for a bunch of different reasons one being I have a nasty cough and think it's probably very contagious. I did not want to get germs everywhere. Then I started think when doctors and nurses get sick they have to be so careful because of how closely they are working with their patients. Once I got to admission they asked me to assemble folders much of the same work I have done the last couple of times. Therefore I knew exactly what to do but still it's a boring tedious process. All you have to do is rip off the label of the previous patient then fill the folder with different paper work standing straight up. Yes it sounds very simple but it's incredible boring and there are hundreds of folders. After that I organized more paper work for patients to fill out when they are being admitted. Apparently they are switching over to electronic and the paper work is not even going to be necessary soon but for now someone needed to organize it and I was the girl for the job. After that I left to come see the senior talent show. 

Day 15

Today I arrived at about the same after senior chapel. Since Joanne the woman I normal assist wasn't there I went and helped out at the admissions office. I've done this once before and I forgot how incredible boring it was. All you do is sit there and make millions of packets. Today was no different I was asked to organize paper the admitted patients would need to fill out while I was doing that there was two people in the same office with me one being trained to take on his new job and one training him. They provided me with a little bit of interesting conversation I could listen to while I shuffled around paperwork. After that I filed a some paper work then left. Not a very eventful day but it made me realize that I definitely like the hustle and bustle of the hospital floors much more than working in an office. I would hate to sit in an office for the rest of my life it was so boring. 

Day 14

Today I got there around 12:30 because I was at school for the college t-shirt day. Once I got there I went to the crib room to check that out back there. I decided to make more green bags while I was back there Joanne was talking about how the hospital is a constant revolving door because people are always in and out especially in the postpartum unit. This statement is very true for obvious reasons. Piedmont's slogan is, "it's time to get better." But once they get better the next person gets sick and their room needs to be restocked for the them. After refilling the green bags I brought a couple of the formula bags to the back. Then I decided to go into the nursery and see if they needed in help in there. I restocked the diapers for the nurses. Once I was in their I realized that one of doctors was giving four of the little boys circumcision. The baby boys did not seem happy about this at all. I asked them if it hurt and the doctor said they can't feel and that so far he hasn't gotten been any complaints. Shortly after restocking the diapers I left.

Day 13 (Friday)

Today I got there and walked back to the crib room to make sure everything was in order. I decided to stock up on green bag because the shelve was looking a little empty. After doing that I was told the whole floor was completely full today and that it was going to be a lot of people leaving and coming in which meant that we needed to get rooms together. I went to the crib room and grabbed four cribs. I bought the to the rooms and set up four rooms, two c-sections and two natural labor. Then I got all the empty cribs and restocked them in the crib room to be ready for more rooms. As people continued to leave I made up more rooms. I also rolled a couple of patients down to their cars which was fun because all of the moms were so excited. Later I was sitting at the deck talking to the head nurse. When the baby alarm went off. All of the babies has ankle bracelets so if they get loose or fall off all the whole floors rings. The nurse have to scramble to find the baby before they can clear it. But the head nurse told me the reason they do it it is because woman come in and steal babies. Apparently they wear scrubs and bring a large bag with them. Then they scope out the rooms so that they know one room with a baby and one empty room. Finally they walk in grab the baby like a nurse would go into the room stuff it in the bag and leave. That's why all the baby have like wrist bands with alarms on them. After completely the restocking I answer call for a while then left. 

Day 12

Today I upon arriving Joanne asked me to help assembly more folders since they just got in a new shipment of New Beginning books. These are the folders that they give new moms when they check into their hospital room after giving birth. They include a couple papers on feeding, a small book called New Beginning, and the forms to get the child's birth certificate. Also in the folder were small pamphlets on getting the baby registered in Georgia. I assembled upwards of a hundred of those. After that I came to the front and Beth one of the head nurses asked me if I could unpack several boxes of baby shirt that they would give to new moms right before they left the hospital. They were little onesies actually they were more like potato sacks because these did not have feet slots for the baby's but the front of them had a smile emoji that said this side up. These onesies are to remind moms that newborn babies need to sleep on their backs not their bellies. On a side note those cribs were heavy with all the onesies in them I almost broke a sweat lifting those up. Once I finished that I walked out to the front and went to lunch. Once I came back I manned the desk for a while, answering the phone and directing people to which room their loved ones were in. Once Joanne came back from lunch I left and went home. 

Day 11

This morning I woke up and headed over to Piedmont. I arrived around 8 and clocked in then walked up stairs to 2 South. Once I got there I was immediately put to work by wiping down the some of the medical equipment. After that I sat at the desk for most of the day and answered the phone. Most of the calls to the nurses station were pretty routine. Many of the woman asked for towels or ice water but occasionally there are some different calls. One woman called in and just repeated "nurse nurse nurse nurse". Of course this freaked me out the sense of urgency in her voice definitely made me feel like she needed her nurse immediately. So I hung up and just told that to one of the nurses next to me. That nurse, although it wasn't her nurse, rushed in there. Then came out shortly after and said that the woman was in a lot of pains but that her pain killers weren't working. Her nurse went in there quickly afterwards and after she came out she informed us that the patient simply needed to pee. Apparently this woman hadn't peed since she had her baby yesterday afternoon which sounds incredible uncomfortable to me. After this episode I got up and went to the crib room. I restocked it again because every time a patient come in or out we need new supplies which is obvious. Once that was completely I went back to the desk and answer calls again. I started to talk to one of the nurses who was also a lactation specialist. She was super interesting because she became a lactation specialist before she was a registered nurse which is odd because normal it goes the other way around. She also told me that hospital only hire lactation specialist if they are registered nurses as well but it did not use to be like that. It used to not matter, you could be a lactation specialist but not a nurse and still get hired now you have to be a nurse which I found interesting. After the conversation with her, Ann, one of the nurses came and got me. She took me into the nursery to help fill up some bags with gauze which was cool because I got to see how the nurses worked with the babies in the nursery. Unfortunately due to restriction and safety concerns volunteers can no longer hold the babies but either way they are cute to look at. After finishing up in there they told me I was good to go for the day and would see me tomorrow. 

Day 10

Today was my first day on 2 South which is the postpartum floor. This is where the newborn babies and their mother go after giving birth. Once I arrived I met the woman who would be training me, Joanne. She was very sweet and excited to have me which made me feel good. After we met she told me a little bit about herself and that she was originally a teacher but decided that she would rather be doing this. She's the unit secretary which means she just keeps the floor running. Joanne makes sure that everything is running smoothly on the floor. She's really fun and interesting to shadow. Today after meeting her she took me to the crib room and showed me how to get a crib set up for a new room. Then she took me to the nursery to get the supplies. The babies in there were so cute. After that I organized the towels and sheets in the closet. That took a pretty long time. After that I went to grab lunch my lunch was pretty good but hospital food is not the best. When I came back to the floor I made up green bags. Those are the bags that they give the new moms. Then I went to the nursery and restocked it for the new babies coming in. Although my day doesn't seem that interesting. I was surrounded adorable babies all day so that definitely helped. 

Day 9

Today I spent my day in the admissions office which was not very uneventfully at all. I created packets and stuffed folders all day but it gave me a time to think. I thought a lot about if this (working in a hospital) is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I decided that it is. I came to terms that I am not the type of person to have a job. I do not like just sitting around doing boring. I feel nursing is not a regular job it's much different. Nurses are working hands on with other people with the ultimate goal to make them better or better off. I was talking to my mothers husband the other day about it. He worked on Wall Street all his working life but is now retired. He asked me a very simple question can you see yourself working in a hospital for the rest of your life and I really do believe that I can. I definitely do not see myself sitting in a cubical for the rest of my life or having another type of desk job. I like the work of nursing even though it's different. The hours are different than a regular profession and the people that work as nurses are different too. Someone once told me that it takes a special person to be a nurse someone who wants to help other people and see them get better. I definitely enjoy both of those things and would love to be apart of community who has those goals in mind. Nurses have always held a special place in my heart. After watching them interact with my mom when she was sick with cancer it made me realize how much nurses are respected. It also showed me how much respect these people have. This past weekend I went to Fort Worth, TX to visit my future school Texas Christian University. It was incredible but aside from that I went in the nursing building for the first time. That was amazing. The whole building is made to look like a hospital on the inside which is really cool. Although their program is hard this internship is really giving me an extra push to stick with it because just working in the hospital really solidifies that this is where I want to be for the rest of my working life. Other than my deep thinking during this period in the admissions office. I also did my work of creating packets and stuffing folders the most exciting that happen to me during this time was I accident stuffed the first hundred folders wrong and had to go back to fix all of them. Other than that nothing really that interesting happened today. 

Day 8

This morning I got up ready for my first day of volunteering at Piedmont. Once I got there I went and got my TB test read... It was negative. Then I walked up to the admission area and helped them out assembling different packets. On Monday when I started Mr. Brown told me that this week was volunteer appreciation week and Wednesday they had a little party planned in the cafeteria. I was pretty excited that I chose to come on this week (haha). Well I headed over there grabbed a snack and then listen to the coral performance by the Peach Pipes. I got to the cafeteria a little bit early so as I was sitting there waiting for the party a voice came over the loud speaker. It said, "this is a code silver. A white man 5'8" wearing khaki pants a black shirt and a yellow vest about 170 pounds" or something like that.  I immediately looked down at my badge to see what a code silver was, I quickly discovered that a code silver was an active shooter in the building. I freaked out a little bit then the voice came back over the intercom and announced it was just a drill. That was great to hear. Shortly after this the Peach Pipes arrived and began their performance. I was pleasantly surprised by it. They sang some good songs, a bunch of classics. Then Mr. Brown and I met briefly and discussed the up coming week. After that he sent me up to the cardiovascular unit where I sent the rest of my day. It was a long day I sat at the desk where someone monitored the patient heart beats and the other nurse, Shanty, discharged and admitted patients. She also sat next to two screen one that allowed her to answer the calls from the patient room and one that allowed her to answers calls from other side the hospital. I helped out by answer the phone when they weren't around, discharging people's binders, making people admit binders, and cleaning medical supplies that came out of patients rooms. It was pretty interesting I had fun sitting at the nurses table with all the action going on around me. I liked the environment and the pace of everything around me plus everyone seemed pretty happy doing their job no one was obviously very miserable. 

Day 6

Today I woke up and was not looking forward to an almost 7 hour orientation. However I woke up got dressed and headed to Piedmont. Once I got there I parked and got lost trying to find the auditorium where the meeting was being held. Once I finally found it I sat down next to a two nurse practitioners ironically. Then for the next 7 hours early we had a meet. Going over all of Piedmont's policies and promises that they make to patients and staff. That was not very interesting but I made friend. She was a sophomore at a school I had never heard of and also a future volunteer. But the most interesting thing about her was that she grew up in Ghana, Africa. She also told me that she went to British boarding school that she hated. I had a lot of fun talking to her she was super interesting and very funny. After we finished eating we walked back to the auditorium and sat down for another hour or so of policies. Once the meeting was over we went upstairs to talk to Mr. Brown about hours and to collect our smocks. Next I had to go get another TB shot since I forgot to get my last one read 48 hours after I got it. Since I have not gotten my TB shot read I can't start working at Piedmont till after I get it read. Therefore I can't start till Wednesday. 

Day 5

Today I woke up around 8 to head down to the Good Samaritan but when I looked at my phone I saw an email from Mrs. Dudley. She wrote that she was not working today and therefore did not need me to come to the Good Samaritan. After that I woke up and decided to do some research on the different Good Samaritan that around the city of Atlanta. The Good Samaritan that I worked at the passed week was the first of its kind in Atlanta and the other ones are just copies of it. However none of them are connected to the other ones. After doing some research I discovered that they all have and provide the same service but the way in which they do it is slightly different. The differences lie in how each of the offices are run differently. Even though they were all based off of the facility that I worked all of the Good Samaritan's are run slightly different. The original Good Samaritan was started by Dr. Warren because he felt that a calling and wanted to spread the word of the gospel. The Good Samaritan Cobb was started for a slightly different reason. It was started by Reverend Grant Cole and Dr. Jack Kennedy after collaborating these two men realized that medical and dental bills were creating a significant setback for uninsured family that were far under the poverty line. The Cobb distinction was started in 2006 and did not seem to emphasizing as strong of a faith based approach as the original Good Samaritan. The other location is in Gwinnett and was started when the community saw that part of their community was not being reached by the medical services that were being provided. Members from the local church came together to form a board of directors in January 2004. Unlike the original Good Samaritan which is based off of Luke 9:1-2, which reads, "drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." While the Gwinnett location mission is to teach what Jesus taught His disciples: demonstrate their faith by caring for the less fortunate, the sick, the naked, the hungry, the homeless, the imprisoned and the destitute. All of the three location provide the same basic medical and dental to care to patients who would otherwise not receive medical care.

Day 4

Today was not a very interesting day. I got there and waiting for Mrs. Dudley to put me to work. She then brought me down stairs and the head nurse, Tre asked me to go around and wipe down the exam chairs and tables. After that I sat in the nurses station waiting for my next task as I sat there a loud yell came out of the room next to me then screaming and loud crying. Everyone started looking around at each other wondering what was going on. Then the nurse who was taking care of the kid came into the nurses station to disk the drama. Apparently the kid was yelling and screaming because he didn't want to get a shot. So his mother slapped him and he fired back with a fire punch to her in the face. The nurse also revealed that it was a bigger kid and the mother was having none of it. That was about the most interesting thing that happen today. After that I sat at the station a little bit longer waiting for something to do. Finally Tre brought me to all of the patients files and asked me to organize them in alphabetical order. I was not expecting this take that long since I was a student aide and alphabetizing is a talent of mine. Well three and half hours later I was finally finished then I left and went home. 

Day 3

This day was a lot different than the passed two days because I was on the medical floor shadowing Doctor and nurses verse being upstairs with the behind the scenes staff. I arrived at 7:30 and waited to meet with Dr. Warren, a pediatric doctor and the founder of the Good Samaritan health center. He stepped into his office around 8 and we started talking as he handle some other things. Dr. Warren had a patient that was suppose to arrive at 8:30 but didn't end up showing up so we went back to his office and I had a longer more formal interview. Dr. Warren started to tell me about how the Good Samaritan was started and what drove him to start a center like this one. Dr. Warren found himself asking a lot how can I live out my New Testament Christianity? In 1995 he felt a calling to try and get better health care to the poor but was not sure how to go about that. That same year he went to Techwood baptist center which was a church in the intercity. Here he was looking for a family that his family could "adapt" for the Christmas season and hopefully find someone that could help get him better connected to the people in the intercity. Well once he got to the center they gave him a tour around and much to his surprise there was a clinic up stairs of the center. Right then and there he felt the Holy Spirit talk to him and he knew this is where he needed to be. After deliberating on it for a month or so he decided to leave his practice and start working there. Three years later they built the first Good Samaritan center on Ivan Allen boulevard. They remained there for 10 years then once the world of Coke and aquarium were built they decided to move because that was no longer the intercity. They have been at their new spot for seven years and experience no problems with violence. Dr. Warren feels like this is what God has called him to do. He refers to Luke 9:1-2 this verse reads, "he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick." Dr. Warren feels that the center is his vehicle to do two of those things, heal the sick and preach the gospel. The name Good Samaritan is also a biblical reference to Luke 10:25-37. 

After that interview he told me some other interesting things about the clinic. Their pharmacy does not have any narcotics and they rarely prescribe narcotics because they don't want to have drug seekers start showing up and they do not want to be broken into. Dr. Warren was scheduled to have several patients today and only one of them showed up. The first boy we met with had been throwing up all night and still nauseous this morning. Dr. Warren after the exam established that it was either food poisoning or a stomach bug. The next person we saw was a little girl who was 9 but at first glance looked like she could have been 12 or 13. I went to exam her with the nurse practitioners. She was in due to head aches and a sore throat. The nurse practitioners decided that it could be a viruses or just from the pollen. The last child that the nurse practitioners and I saw was a 6 month old baby who was in for her 6 month check up. This little girl was adorable her mother was from Brazil and her father was Asian however he was no longer in the picture. The mother worked as a house keeper and lived in a shelter with her 6 month old baby. All of her family was still and Brazil so she practically alone raising this child. The baby however was a very happy go lucky baby. Everything in the check up was normal and the baby was completely healthy but hear that mom's story was heart breaking. That was the last patient we saw for the day so after that baby I left. 

Day 2

Today I woke up around 6:50 which is really early for me because during a normal school week I don't wake up till about 7:40. I then hustled over to Piedmont where I was schedule to get a drug and TB tested. After arriving and filling out my paper work I was taken to the back where I got drug tested. Four minutes later it was confirmed that I was negative to which the friendly nurse, Patti, turned to me, shook my hand and smiled as she said, "welcome to Piedmont." We then went to her office where she put a small needle under my skin and injected some type of fluid that will decide whether or not I have TB in 48-72 hours. After that I took a picture for my badge that I will be given on the day of my orientation. 

I left and hurried over to the Good Samaritan. Once I got there Mrs. Dubley and I continued setting up for lunch. We finished arranging all the chairs and the tables for food. Then around 11 we put all the food out and at 11:30 guest started to arrive.  Dr. Wellman began speaking at about 12. This was a very interesting man who had lots of insight on the topic of sleep and sleep apnea. He started his research in 1979 and still researches it today. Some things that I took away from his talk were that 4 males to 1 female snores due to the fact that weight in males is typically disturbed in their upper body. I also learned that high schoolers need on average 9 to 9 1/4 hours of sleep a night but most of the time only get about 7 to 7 1/4. Other things he disguised included how quickly it takes different people to fall asleep. Dr. Wellman said, "if can't sleep in 10 to 12 minutes get out of bed and do something monotonous." This way it will get your mind off of focusing on trying to sleep. Along with that he talked about how onset insomnia is a mental problem. The more you focus on trying to sleep the more active and stressed out your brain becomes making it increasingly more difficult to actually sleep. Once he finished his talk Mrs. Dubley and I cleaned up the room and reorganized into the way it was originally. Shortly after completing that task I left. 

Day 1

I woke up this morning very apprehensive about my first day at the Sood Samaritan. I had no idea what to expect, it was going into a new experience completely alone. As I drove down Northside the sensory around me started to change. It went from very urban and new to broken down and old buildings. Once I got to the Good Sam I waited for about 15 minutes and then met the woman I would be interning with for the next couple of days, Latrice Dubley. We went to her office where I got a debriefing and had a little interview with her. Here she gave me a little bit of background knowledge on what the Good Sam does and who they have working for them. The Good Sam was started by Mr. Bill Warren, a pediatric Doctor who worked at Scottish Right until he started the Good Samaritan (I get to shadow him on Wednesday morning). He decided to quit his job and start this organization because he felt that he had a calling from God. I then learned that they have 56 volunteer doctors with over 20 different specialties most of them coming from Emory or Northside. We also talked a little bit about the area of town the Good Sam is located in, commonly known as Bankhead. Mrs. Dubley says that she is never really scared because "the community realizes that they are getting Buckhead level care in Bankhead." She also pointed out "if we thought about the what could wrong at any moment we would never leave the house." 

After this debriefing and interview she put me to work. I began creating folders for the prenatal clinics that they are hosting. This is a clinic that allows 32 moms to receive prenatal care for their babies at no cost. These mothers otherwise would not be able to afford this care. I also assembled test kit bags (I'm not sure what those were for). After that we went on a field trip and ran some errands. We needed to pick up supplies for the lunch that they are hosting tomorrow. This is a lunch with Dr. Wellman a sleep specialist. During those errands Mrs. Dubley began talking to me about what she wants me to take away from this entire experience. She told me to "eat the fish and spit out the bones." Meaning take the knowledge away from this experience that I find valuable and will help me grow as a student then discarded all the rest.

On the way back to the facility I asked Mrs. Dubley if she had seen the documentary Snow on the Bluff. This is a Netflix documentary about the gang and drug violence that happens only feet away from the Good Samaritan facility. As I was asking her we passed a major street in the film she immediately turned and took me into the bluff to give me a little bit of a tour of the "worst" neighborhood in Atlanta. As we were driving through people loitered on the streets around us just standing there staring at us. I asked her if she thought this was the worst area in Atlanta, what she said I never would have thought about. Mrs. Dubley said yes in metro Atlanta but she also pointed out that there is no grocery store. Food is one of the basic human needs and the people here don't even have access to a grocery store. After that we return to the Good Sam and set up the room for the lunch tomorrow. That took much longer than expected but ended up looking really good. I left shortly after we finished setting up the room.