This past week was strangely similar to the week before with most of my time spent in the clinic in Mill Valley. A huge international AIDS conference in Washington D.C. left just Poliana and myself in the office. The personnel I've been reporting to at the Forensic AIDS Project in the city were also at the conference.
I attempted to trudge forward with my video. My interview with Joan Cairns, director of Jail Psychiatric Services (JPS), took place on Monday and was incredibly informative. I learned a great deal about their services as well as an introduction of Jail Aftercare Services (JAS), a subset of JPS. I was able to make contact with another nurse practitioner and the director of JAS for future meetings. I'm really happy with all of the information and opinions I've been able to gather, but I'm still not sure of the most efficient and effective way to organize it all. I also can't just go into the jails and start filming so I've been really limited with my lack of supervision. Hopefully at the start of this next week once everyone returns, I'll get some assistance.
I also toyed around with the idea of contacting a professional video production company to film the video. I spent a lot of this week developing a pretty sound script of what I think should be covered. I'm excited to pass it on to others to be proofread. I contacted a few local companies just to inquire their thoughts on the project and if they ever do similar projects for very little or no cost. I received a few responses, and people seem curious. Again, I can't really move forward with any of this without talking to my superiors first. It may be more complicated than it's worth. Everyone doing the filming would have to get clearance to be inside the jail and so forth. Next week will be the true tell-all of what's going to happen next. I just wish the end of my time here wasn't breathing down my neck.
In the office all week, I alternated working on the JHS video and organizing the contacts the Tom Steel Clinic is going to make for donations for the annual fundraiser. In order to make the planning process a breeze in the future, Poliana and I have gone ahead and created a "directory" of sorts of the local businesses we plan to contact. I've drafted up letters for the various caterers, bakeries, grocery stories, wineries, and party rental companies we'll be contacting. Poliana and I are visited a number of the establishments closest to the venue of the event (Room Gallery in Mill Valley) yesterday. People were so appreciative of us making this contact so early. All of the places we went to were willing to contribute. It was really nice to see more of the area. We're setting aside of whole day to visit the wineries. That should be a lot of fun!
Friday afternoon I went into the city to meet with Melissa Gore, NP in county jail 2. She had very similar opinions and stories of her work in the jails. She focused a great deal on what she would like to see in the video, and I appreciated that. Melissa took me into the medical clinic again and introduced me to a few more individuals I should get in contact with.
I'm really anxious for what this week will hold. I hope to definitely have my superiors accompany me into the jails and do some major filming. Can't wait!
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
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.
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! :)
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.
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| My workbench at TSC |
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! :)
Friday, July 13, 2012
Week 3: Well On My Way
At the conclusion of this week, I really feel as though I'm fully in the swing of things. I've been going back and forth between the clinic in Mill Valley and FAP in the city, and it's been great. As I become more acquainted with the staff of the Forensic AIDS Project, I continue to learn more and more about the organization. It's extremely impressive.
Although I am technically working for Jail Health Services (JHS), FAP is my home base. As a subset of JHS, they have been extremely helpful in debriefing me with the health care services that are available to inmates in addition to HIV/AIDS care. Medical students are a regular part of the JHS/FAP team, and they hold numerous focus groups in the prisons to assess the prisoners' opinions of the care they receive. I pretty much spent my entire Monday reading the summaries, findings, and suggestions of these focus groups. The next step will be scheduling interviews will various JHS personnel.
Tuesday morning I was at the clinic with Poliana. We have yet to receive any word from our web designer about the programming changes so I contacted him to follow up. I was able to draft a partial "Clinical Social Work Services: Basic Referral Guidelines" procedure before I had to head to the city.
My afternoon at FAP was spent preparing for the interviews I mentioned previously. I scheduled interviews for today (Friday) with Dr. Joe Goldenson, Director of JHS, Isela Gonzalez, HIV Prevention Services Coordinator of FAP, and Isaiah Hurtado, Lead Case Manager of FAP. I drafted up a multitude of questions and then organized them according to the individual I would be interviewing. I am so thankful for the News & Professional Feature Writing course I just had this past semester. Having quite a few interviews under my belt from writing my stories is so helpful.
Wednesday I was back at the clinic. The variety of work I'm doing is making the time go so fast. I spent most of my day there continuing to prepare for my interviews on Friday. The environment at the clinic is much more accommodating for efficient work. (There are about 7 staff members per room at FAP.) I really appreciate the flexibility Dr. Estes, Poliana, and Kate are allowing me. Once all of my interviews are conducted, I probably won't have to go into the city at all. I love the ownership I get to take in these projects. It's on me to develop a successful, beneficial end product.
I also began to brush up on my iMovie skills. I've used the program before, but I want to be able to use it to its full potential for the orientation DVD. I plan on voice or film recording each interview on my iPhone so I've been practicing my steady hand at that as well. It's really quite amazing that I have all these tech resources right at my fingertips.
Thursday I was at the clinic again, and I spent the day divided amongst a few things. Poliana and I spent a good amount of time editing some policies I had some questions about. She then gave me a bit of time to put the finishing touches of my final paper for the Gambia. One of the other clinicians, Dr. Jackie Tulsky just returned from vacation, and she, in a word, is amazing. She is the kindest, most down to earth physician I've ever interacted with. She spent an hour and a half with just one patient to answer all of her questions. Dr. Tusky is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She herself, went to med school at PITT so we bonded over Pennsylvania for a bit. I conducted my first interview with her for the clinicians' bios for the TSC website. I really appreciated the opportunity to ask her about her past training and experience and learn a bit about how she got to where she is today.
And finally today, I conducted my interviews with the FAP staff members and Dr. Goldenson. They all went extremely well, but I'm quickly realizing there are SO many different topics and approaches I can take to the orientation video. Everyone I spoke to today had their own ideas about what should be highlighted. I'm going to schedule more interviews next week and then begin to develop my outline and script.
I also got a tour of a few of the jails this afternoon. I was in the male and female housing units, the medical care unit, the psych unit, and the medical clinic. I sat in on an orientation for new female prisoners and heard the short presentation FAP staff gives about the opportunity to get tested. I was extremely impressed when about half the group expressed an interest in HIV, Hep B, and STD testing.
I am completely dumbfounded by the amount of information that's coming at me on a daily basis. If you had asked me about the health services available in jails 3 weeks ago, I would have had absolutely nothing to say due to sheer ignorance. There is a whole other sector of health services that out there I hadn't ever considered being a part of. I absolutely cannot wait to talk to more people and continue to learn about what's available for prisoners. For a majority of those incarcerated, jail is the only place they receive medical care.
Although I am technically working for Jail Health Services (JHS), FAP is my home base. As a subset of JHS, they have been extremely helpful in debriefing me with the health care services that are available to inmates in addition to HIV/AIDS care. Medical students are a regular part of the JHS/FAP team, and they hold numerous focus groups in the prisons to assess the prisoners' opinions of the care they receive. I pretty much spent my entire Monday reading the summaries, findings, and suggestions of these focus groups. The next step will be scheduling interviews will various JHS personnel.
Tuesday morning I was at the clinic with Poliana. We have yet to receive any word from our web designer about the programming changes so I contacted him to follow up. I was able to draft a partial "Clinical Social Work Services: Basic Referral Guidelines" procedure before I had to head to the city.
My afternoon at FAP was spent preparing for the interviews I mentioned previously. I scheduled interviews for today (Friday) with Dr. Joe Goldenson, Director of JHS, Isela Gonzalez, HIV Prevention Services Coordinator of FAP, and Isaiah Hurtado, Lead Case Manager of FAP. I drafted up a multitude of questions and then organized them according to the individual I would be interviewing. I am so thankful for the News & Professional Feature Writing course I just had this past semester. Having quite a few interviews under my belt from writing my stories is so helpful.
Wednesday I was back at the clinic. The variety of work I'm doing is making the time go so fast. I spent most of my day there continuing to prepare for my interviews on Friday. The environment at the clinic is much more accommodating for efficient work. (There are about 7 staff members per room at FAP.) I really appreciate the flexibility Dr. Estes, Poliana, and Kate are allowing me. Once all of my interviews are conducted, I probably won't have to go into the city at all. I love the ownership I get to take in these projects. It's on me to develop a successful, beneficial end product.
I also began to brush up on my iMovie skills. I've used the program before, but I want to be able to use it to its full potential for the orientation DVD. I plan on voice or film recording each interview on my iPhone so I've been practicing my steady hand at that as well. It's really quite amazing that I have all these tech resources right at my fingertips.
Thursday I was at the clinic again, and I spent the day divided amongst a few things. Poliana and I spent a good amount of time editing some policies I had some questions about. She then gave me a bit of time to put the finishing touches of my final paper for the Gambia. One of the other clinicians, Dr. Jackie Tulsky just returned from vacation, and she, in a word, is amazing. She is the kindest, most down to earth physician I've ever interacted with. She spent an hour and a half with just one patient to answer all of her questions. Dr. Tusky is a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She herself, went to med school at PITT so we bonded over Pennsylvania for a bit. I conducted my first interview with her for the clinicians' bios for the TSC website. I really appreciated the opportunity to ask her about her past training and experience and learn a bit about how she got to where she is today.
And finally today, I conducted my interviews with the FAP staff members and Dr. Goldenson. They all went extremely well, but I'm quickly realizing there are SO many different topics and approaches I can take to the orientation video. Everyone I spoke to today had their own ideas about what should be highlighted. I'm going to schedule more interviews next week and then begin to develop my outline and script.
I also got a tour of a few of the jails this afternoon. I was in the male and female housing units, the medical care unit, the psych unit, and the medical clinic. I sat in on an orientation for new female prisoners and heard the short presentation FAP staff gives about the opportunity to get tested. I was extremely impressed when about half the group expressed an interest in HIV, Hep B, and STD testing.
I am completely dumbfounded by the amount of information that's coming at me on a daily basis. If you had asked me about the health services available in jails 3 weeks ago, I would have had absolutely nothing to say due to sheer ignorance. There is a whole other sector of health services that out there I hadn't ever considered being a part of. I absolutely cannot wait to talk to more people and continue to learn about what's available for prisoners. For a majority of those incarcerated, jail is the only place they receive medical care.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Week 2: San Francisco County Jail Sneak Preview
This week just flew by! Maybe it was that mid-week break, or maybe I'm just really enjoying myself. We'll never know.
I'll return to the FAP office on Monday to begin my work. I'm very excited for the change of pace and the new people I'll be working with. There are numerous case managers, nurses, and other professionals working there regularly. The individuals who begin HIV/AIDS care while incarcerated and are then released, continue care with the FAP team. I'm also really looking forward learning more about the project; it's quite interesting.
I spent 3.5 days in the clinic again. The week began with another meeting with Dr. Estes where I was able to receive some feedback on the work I had done for the website thus far. His critiques were helpful, but it seems as though he's not even sure exactly what he wants. In the words of Poliana, "he's quite difficult to please." I've made it a personal goal to impress him. I'm sure I can develop the Tom Steel Clinic in a such a way that even Dr. Milton Estes will be proud of.
Once again, my time this week was split between working on the website and writing the policies and procedures manual. I'm very surprised by just how much I enjoy drafting the manual. I have to ask Poliana a lot of questions, but in turn, I'm getting to learn the entirety of clinic functions. I also have done an extensive amount of research into other health facilities' operations manuals. I'm learning a great deal about how small, private clinics operate in comparison to other health settings. Turns out, Poliana is much much easier to please than Dr. Estes. She began to read over what I had written so far, and she was very impressed! I definitely feel like I'm making a great contribution to the clinic after receiving her gratitude. It's pretty tedious work, and I've barely made a dent in a full manual, but I am extremely empowered to keep trudging forward.
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| One of four San Francisco County Jail branches, also houses the Deputy Sheriff's Headquarters and the Hall of Justice; South of Market, San Francisco, CA |
I got to witness and be involved in more patient services this past week. A patient had passed over the weekend, and it was so interesting to see how various services, the clinic (multiple clinicians) and the police, specifically the coroner, dealt with that situation. There were also a few emergency services that needed to be held at the clinic that normally would not have been. One of the nurse practitioners, Tom Young, is willing to do anything for the clinic's patients. He has a lot of experience in various health settings, and with Dr. Estes' permission, he'll perform minor emergency procedures right in the office.
This afternoon I finally got the chance to meet with Dr. Estes in his office in the city. His primary job is his clinical work for the Forensic AIDS Project (FAP), which works beneath the San Francisco County Jail Health Services. The FAP administrative office is actually 1.5 blocks from the jail. We met with one of the co-directors of the project, Kate Monico Klein. She's actually from State College, small world. It seems as though I'll be working closest with her. My project for them, now that I have more details, will be developing a film to be played during inmate orientations outlining the health care they will receive while incarcerated. My contributions will go mainly under Jail Health Services seeing as I will be covering all services, not only HIV/AIDS care.
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| Forensic AIDS Project (FAP) offices - 2nd floor; South of Market, San Francisco, CA |
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