RED SOX?

Can someone please text me every once in a while to update me on the Sox? I can check their scores and stats about once a week, but I'm starting to get a bit stressed out about this whole situation- and I can't get a game within 9438 miles of YAKIMA, WA.!!???!!??

QUICK RECAP!

Last Saturday we spent the day hiking near Mt. Rainier- it was simply the most beautiful place I have EVER EVER EVER been. We were in awe for most of the hike. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music the entire time! That night we went to go see 300 Days of Summer. I LOVED IT!!! It made me laugh so loud, then cry, then whimper, then chuckle, then be silent. Yes, lots of emotions from the movie. Then on Sunday we spent the day eating pancakes, going to a street fruit and produce market, going to church, and staying up way way too late watching Pulp Fiction.

The week at work was nothing TOO remarkable. I have begun learning the ropes at the office, and finally feel like I am not a total outsider among the staff. Obviously being white and english-speaking makes me an outsider in an of itself among the MAs, but I am beginning to form relationships and jokes among the staff, which is great.

I am also becoming more comfortable with my procedures (the simple ones), giving me more of an opportunity to talk to my patients and connect with them on a little bit of a deeper level.

We went to a single-A baseball game last night, the Yakima Bears, and it was JV night, so the 8 of us got our own section complete with posters, fans, free beer, and a big photo on the jumbotron.

This week I got a care package from Tim, and I didn’t stop beaming all night. I was jumping up and down and showing everyone a photo of the two of us from Mt. Hope. **Tim- I haven’t had a chance to call you- but I am writing to you today!!! Thanks SOOO much** Then I also got a couple packages from my mom and dad full of amazing food and sweets and a puff (just in time for cold nights in Yakima). Lastly, I got a letter from Danielle today- again, made my day. I miss everyone from back home, so so much, and I apologize to anyone who is reading this who I have not been able to call or email in the past couple weeks. This time change is killing me- and the lack of internet- and limited phone use, etc.!!

xo

A couple camping photos!

Patrick, Chris, Jaime, me, Sophie, Allison, Sam, Grace!

La Casa Rutilio Grande!

and at the camp site

Alexander and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Tonight is Thursday night, our house just returned from an evening with our support parents. Our support parents are a local couple who agreed to meet with us once a month to check in and make sure we have food, beer, and a little bit of guidance. My day turned upwards exponentially once I returned from YNHS and headed out of the city for yet ANOTHER night of boca burgers, potato chips, and micro brews (third time this week already).

So...my day… For starters it is wicked hot here this week, I never know how hot it is until evening time, and even then, around 6pm, it is stiflingly hot and humid. So last night I tried to go to sleep at a reasonable time so I could get up for a 5:45 run, but around 1am while I was still sitting up in (actually on- because it was too hot for covers, obviously) bed wishing it was not hot (productive, yes, I know) I realized that getting up before 6am would be a bad idea before my 4th 10 hour day in a row. So instead I reset my alarm for 6:30...PM. I jumped out of bed at 7:35, 5 minutes after my shift started, and booked my butt to work, without contacts, a shower, proper breakfast, or any sort of decent hygiene. The day got a bit better when Chris (housemate) surprised me by hand-delivering a HUGE mug of strong, black coffee - I guess he had noticed that I left the house without my morning dose. Then it came crashing down again when I was informed I had to receive 2 shots and get a vial of blood drawn for testing. After LOSING it, crying, sweating, shivering with goose bumps, and demanding extensive literature on every single test and immunization they thought they were going to give me - I finally got the painless shots that hundreds of patients receive every single day...and these are the same shots and blood draws I am expected to perform as a part of my job… Next, I worked in OB for the afternoon and saw a lot of pregnant women, ranging basically from 16-22 (with a few older exceptions), and then I had to leave the room while the doctor was performing a routine pap because I almost passed out AGAIN. Then I asked my fat co-worker how many months pregnant she is. Ya...she isn’t pregnant at all. Oops.

That, in a nutshell, was my day at work.

Highlight: coffee and hearing baby heart-beats (note to self: suppress maternal instinct).

PS- after I wrote this post- one of my housemates got a phone call regarding a homeless recovering drug and alcohol abuser who had been asked to leave YNHS’s homeless respite apartment (middle ground between the hospital and the streets for recovery and rest) for violating the no alcohol policy. This man, who our housemates have developed some form of relationship with, came back to the apartments and broken into one and began stabbing walls and threatening the invalid who resides there with a used needle. This began a 5 hour discussion about whether it is morally ok, necessary, or inhumane to be able to separate your work from your home life. Tough day overall! - but hiking this weekend!

American Obesity

This may sound like a bit of a rant- but I am becoming very, very frustrated at work right now. This has been a conversation my house-mates have been hearing for the past 2 weeks, but it seems that everything hit a climax today when I had to stand in the room as the doctor performed a breast exam pap-smear on a 350 lb woman. I have worked every day this week weighing and taking the blood pressure, vitals, history, and complaints of these absurdly unhealthy patients. A huge number of them come in complaining about diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, trouble with their legs and back...etc. They then go on to talk to me about how it runs in their family, how a certain accident led to their pain, anything they can use to blame for their deteriorating condition other than their own personal habits. Then, the doctor, who at this point only has 10 minutes maximum to treat everything that ails this patient, walks out a few minutes later to tell me to call down a number of prescriptions for this patient to pick up. Instead of helping them become healthy, they give them drugs to suppress the actual problem- not that the patient would want to do anything that takes actual effort to help their well-being anyways, but still! Either way, I am having difficulty watching these patients walk in and walk out with a list of 15 prescriptions that they are on for every one of their ailments (prescriptions the taxpayers are paying for since most of these patients do not have insurance- but that is for another time).

Ok that is all. Off my chest- my housemates are sick of hearing about it, and I am sick of letting it consume me- but ugh- vive America.

Ruined for Life?

I already posted at work today about how my day was going, but basically I came to a startling realization that although the Connections clinic (YNHS’s homeless healthcare facility) does do great work to people who really need their help, often more of their patients are either only considered homeless through a technicality in the definition (did not have a permanent residence for at least 2 days and thus qualifies for 12 months of free medicine, dentistry, and prescriptions) or seeking narcotics by telling the medical assistants and doctors of false or exaggerated acute or chronic pain. I also came to realize that most of the doctors, dentists, and RNPs at the clinic are not there with altruistic motives, but are there for a couple years as part of a government school loan-repayment program, then plan to move away. This realization changed in a way how I view my superiors, and after talking with them on their views of Obama’s universal healthcare plan, I came to find that they are as opposed to the idea as I currently am.

My other housemates had difficult days today as well. Sophie and Chris visited the houses of a few heroine and/or meth-addicted prostitutes, Sophie went to a meeting of current heroine addicts where they learn how to use and sterilize their needles, some other housemates drove around delivering food and goods to the homeless or people in the area with HIV- and it turns out that most of the people they visited were on our street. We all learned yesterday that we are living in just about the worst part of town, not a safe place to walk at night, to run alone, to wear anything “blue” like bandanas or jerseys, or really to do much of anything. Needless to say, I just got a gym membership. Grace is working on or hearing about a custody case involving a 13 year old girl who has been raped by a number of her meth-addicted mother’s boyfriends. I guess when you are high on meth your libido skyrockets, but when coming off the high you lose all sex drive and all energy and can barely speak (I guess? I am going off what I have been told by Grace and Sophie via their supervisors). The mother has many boyfriends/male visitors, and when they are still high and she is coming down, she allows them to rape her daughter- over and over and over.

This is just a brief glimpse of our dinnertime discussion- but I think we are all realizing that we are not in Kansas anymore, and that the work we will be doing and the people we will be meeting are going to crush any innocence we came here with. I guess this is what they mean when they say “Ruined for Life”

Ps- we clearly opened up a handful of bottles of wine after this discussion and had a fantastic night of good food, wine, cards, and balderdash.

...and we are now heading camping by Mt. Ranier for the night! Can’t wait! I am off to buy some canned food and cheap beer!

THE CONFESSIONAL

Here is a peek inside my bedroom!

The Second Day of Work

Today, after a fascinating, albeit a bit overwhelming, second day of work, I decided to throw on my trainers and go for a run instead of taking the van home. While running away from Yakima Neighborhood Health Services (henceforth ‘YNHS’) towards the general direction of La Case Rodillo Grande (henceforth ‘my house’) I heard a number of hollers, whistles, and obscenities yelled my direction from passing cars or the cars that slowed down beside me. It only took a minute to realize that I am not from this world. Yakima may just be a small city in central Washington, but the city definitely is not home yet. Thankfully, although the city is not yet home, my house and community have quickly taken that role in my life. Over undercooked cookies, a couple bottles of wine, or budget grilled cheese dinners - we still constantly find ourselves exploring the souls of our housemates, finding out what makes each of us tick. We have not lived here for even a week, and already it feels as if our guards are locked in the closet and we are able to ask and tell each other anything. Unfortunately, I think I don’t have any idea how wrong I am going to prove myself in the upcoming months.

My work today at the clinic as a Medical Assistant (MA) consists of prepping and doing workup on patients for doctor or NP exams. Today I learned how to administer vision exams, audio exams, measure and weigh someone (difficult tasks, clearly), and the like. My patients will come from all walks of life, but since YNHS charges on a sliding fee scale, the majority of the patients are hispanic (many non-citizen farm workers) and very low-income. Tomorrow I will work down the road at the free clinic for homeless persons in Yakima. I worked in pediatrics today, and was once again shocked by these adorable children who come in held in the arms of their 15 and 16 year old mothers. It is interesting that in our society I feel that as a 22 year old, college educated, mentally and financially stable (thanks mom and dad), healthy young woman I am completely and utterly unfit to raise a child, yet these loving 13-19 year old mothers are in the clinic day in and out raising these children on their own or with limited assistance.

Last thought- this clinic and its services are largely funded by the US government through a variety of grants and programs, many of which I voted (or would have) against when back home in good old Laconia, NH. I am providing health care for people regardless of their citizenship status. Illegal aliens and US citizens are treated on the same level and receive the same services - funded by American tax dollars. Without explaining too much of my internal struggle at the moment - I am finding it difficult to reconcile my firm fiscal and capitalistic beliefs with the social justice work I am performing. When I am sitting in front of a beautiful little girl who happens to be the daughter of extraordinarily poor Mexican migrant workers there is no doubt in my mind that I should give her a full exam and that everyone in the clinic should do everything in their power to keep her happy and healthy, yet on paper, these costs are a bit more difficult to reconcile. Thanks Dad, you sure engrained these Republican beliefs in my being. How can I find middle ground between the poignant and elegant ideas of Ayn Rand and la niña Mariposa?

On my lunch break...

I am currently taking lunch at Connections, the homeless healthcare clinic run by Yakima Neighborhood Health. This clinic is pretty small, serves both medical and dental patients, with the only prerequisite being homelessness. Homelessness is not necessarily restricted to living on the streets, rather it includes couch-hopping, crashing at someone's pad for a while, living at a Mission, staying in a mental health facility, and of course, park benches and under bridges. Yakima has been presented with both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that they have the funding to open a clinic such as this one that serves free of charge to anyone without an income, but the curse is that it draws homeless people from all the surrounding areas because of the benefits it provides.

Today I have seen a number of patients (including a boy in high school), some seem perfectly normal. They are polite, claim to not use drugs or alcohol, have no past history of incarceration or mental illness, etc- yet...I can't help but wonder if they are so normal why they do not have a place to live. Others are clearly drug seekers whose symptoms and pains change with the minute. Lastly, there are others who I think actually go out of their way to make the female employees feel extraordinarily uncomfortable. I actually had to have another worker come into an office with me half-way through a visit because the man I was beginning to treat was so out of line and inappropriate. But...for every mysogenistic scumbag there are a number of good people who are being helped by the services we provide.

Life is great at home, we all went to an outdoor concert in the park, came back and had a bit of a dance party, played some cards, and ate an entire ball of cookie dough. On our way to bed I ended up stopping off in Sam's room (across the hall from my own) and sharing some moral and political dilemmas I am facing as a part of my job. Five minutes later Grace and Jaime came up and we ended up debating the American health care system, socialism, and US policies towards immigrants and deportation until well past midnight.

That is all- I wrote a post last night in bed after talking to Jaime, Sam, and Grace that I will probably post tonight that explains more about my job and the clinic itself!!!

Orientation

The Mandala we made to each symbolize and express ourselves (aww aren't we all so artistic... ha)

Sophie! Grace! Jamie! a Former JV (FJV) and his son! Chris! Pat! Sam! Me! Allison!

I will be posting more photos as I upload them onto my picasa album (there is a link on the blog)

The Introduction

This is a story of 8 strangers living in a house...

seriously.

I spent the last week at orientation camping a bit outside Portland and getting prepared to come to YAKIMA! There were 120 JVs (Jesuit Volunteers) there, mostly recent college grads from all over the country, but a few older married couples, or older single women (mostly) who just wanted to try something new.

At orientation we did a lot of talking in small groups and listening to speakers tell us how difficult our experience is going to be (great... haha). It may be the only time in my life that I will experience a twenty minute group meeting about individual milk preferences. We also explored ways to live simply, to rid our dependencies on things and people outside of our community so that when we are with our community and housemates we are fully present, and also that we will use less of the earth's resources in our every day activities. We explored problem solving techniques, methods of meditation, composting, stuff like that!

Then....we moved to Yakima! Oh wait- I should explain the WE first!! WE are 8 people living together in a converted convent in a bit of a seedy part of town. The 8 of us come from all over the country. Grace is from Omaha, Nebraska, Sophie is from Dallas, Patrick is from New Orleans, Chris is from Scottsdale, Arizona, Sam is from Portland, Allison is from San Diego, and Jamie is from Massachusetts! We are all working with the low-income population around here, who are mostly Mexican, but in different positions, housing services, health care, law, etc.

The people around Yakima have been extraordinarily generous already, bringing us freakishly large zucchinis, breads, burgers, BEER (Yakima produces 75% of the nation's hops!!!), Yakima Valley wine, etc. Hopefully this will continue, because once this drops off, we will be back to living on spaghetti and pb&j.

My time at the internet cafe has just about run out, but I will continue to update, post pictures and videos, etc. I start work tomorrow, so will have lots to say about that.

Until next time (hopefully more entertaining and less informative)!