Week 4: More of the Same

      Another week has just flashed before my eyes. I'm just over half way through with my internship, and I cannot believe it.
      I spent the vast majority of last week at the clinic with Poliana. I have yet to receive any word from the clinic's graphic designer so no progress has been made on the website. I keep reading and rereading the materials I have prepared to send along to him. I want to be completely sure it's all ready to go when he finally gets the time to respond.
      I continued to draft more policies and more procedures. I'm really surprised that this task hasn't got old yet. There's so many different topics to cover that I'm constantly learning a different aspect of the clinic's operation. I worked on the "Advanced Care Directive" and "Urgent Care" policies just to name a few.
      I also made quite a few calls to Jail Health personnel to try and schedule some more interviews for my video. I was able to get in touch with nurse practitioner, John Poh, who I interviewed Friday, and Joan Cairns, director of Jail Psychiatric Services. I prepared my questions for both individuals throughout the week. My interview with Joan is scheduled for Monday morning.

My workbench at TSC

      Wednesday afternoon I got to have a little, entertaining break to be photographed for a Juniata article being written about my internship by John Wall, director of media relations back in Huntingdon. I was actually pretty nervous. I was terrified it would be too awkward to handle. However, the photographer (from a local newspaper) was incredibly friendly and made the session kind of fun actually. Since a great deal of my work is in front of a computer, we had a lot of fun trying to make it a bit look more interesting. He even got Poliana involved for some "candid" shots of her instructing me. I hope they turned out pretty well.
      Poliana, Dr. Estes, and the Board of Directors of the clinic are beginning to plan their annual fundraiser to be held in December. Usually each member of the board takes on various tasks and basically puts on the event themselves, but this year Poliana is sort of coordinating the whole thing so as to limit some confusion and frustration. As a non-profit organization, ideally everything for the event is to be donated by local businesses. Hence the reason it's essential to begin planning so early. I was ecstatic to have to opportunity to write the donation letter to request the items for the fundraiser. I have a ton of experience writing these for Relay for Life, and it really paid off! Poliana was extremely appreciative and impressed as she had never written a letter of that nature. We also began to develop a list of caterers, wineries, and coffee shops to request refreshments from.
      Friday I was at the clinic doing my regular thing in the morning and then went to the city in the afternoon to meet with John Poh. He was incredibly honest, friendly, and entertaining, and I absolutely loved listening to his stories. I could tell he genuinely enjoyed his work. I got to enter the jail again, and this time I paid a visit to the "felony floor" where John directs the medical clinic. The prisoners on this floor are awaiting their formal trial and sentencing. John disclosed a lot of great information for me on the medical services available at his clinic, the most common health issues he sees, and the frustration associated with pain management in jail among a number of other things. He gave me a number of new names of JHS professionals to contact.
      I'm really excited to meet with Joan Cairns on Monday. Jail Psych Services (JPS) is a completely different aspect of the health care available for inmates, and I do not possess much knowledge on their services. I'll be able to really get a handle on how I want to organize my video when I feel as though I have at least general information on all JHS has to offer.
     All in all, last week was a very successful and a lot was accomplished. I hope to schedule a number of interviews for this week and start filming as soon as possible. Once I've made initial contact with these various health professionals, I feel more comfortable asking them to be on camera. I also hope they'll feel more comfortable with me and be willing to help out. We'll see! :)