As I said before, the entirety of this week was spent becoming acquainted with the Tom Steel Clinic. I am learning a great deal about what it means to be a non-profit health service provider. I'm gotten the opportunity to interact with the outside personnel and organizations that aid clinic functions, mainly with the beginnings of my web development.
With that being said, I've spent a great deal of time this week developing the TSC website. An independent graffic artist had set up a site several years ago, but it has not been up and running for about 3 years. Dr. Estes made some requests for what he would like to see on there, as did Poliana, but other than that, I am free to update the page on my own. The main field the website was in need of was a catalog of various HIV/AIDS resources, both general and local. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn about the care and services available to those affected. One of my favorite sites is AIDSmeds.com. It has an extremely thorough database of all available antiretroviral therapy options, (HIV/AIDs medications) along with their explanations and directions for use. Users of the site can input their HIV medications with any other medications they are utilizing and ensure they do not react.
This has been a great opportunity to me to put my writing skills to the test. Fields on the website such as history, services, and physicians' bios, need to be updated as well. I've also prepared a short summary of what can be found on each HIV/AIDS web resource. I've drafted the questions for my interviews with each physician, and I'll be conducting and putting those together in the weeks to come. I'm really looking forward learning about each of them individually.
I alternated my work on the webpage with that of beginning to develop the clinic's policies and procedures manual. Poliana has been in contact with a few other of the area's HIV clinics in order to get a starting point for us. We are much smaller than those facilities, and we're unique in the fact that we are privately funded. All of our physicians are volunteer employees as well. I've begun to read over their manuals and develop a loose outline of what ours will contain. This process will undoubtedly be beneficial for me. Not only will I learn more about TSC functions, I'll be familiarizing myself with policies and procedures writing/revising I'm sure I'll have to do again in my future.
With all of that being said, I'm feeling very good after my first week at the clinic. It's a very comfortable work environment. I really like the openness and informality of it all; I can ask any question that comes to mind. The clinic employees are very helpful, and the patients I've interacted with thus far are also very knowledgeable and informative. Next week I'll be at the San Francisco County Jail for a few days, and I'm really looking forward to integrating myself into that health environment as well. Wish me luck!
