Vocation of the Healthcare Professional

Last week, I went over to the local orphanage with a group of nursing students to sing some songs and do some crafts. I was not expecting to be inspired… but sometimes that happens when you least expect it.

The baby-lover that I am, I found myself in the nursery. I am picking up all of these little nuggets, playing a little, having a great time. But here in this corner is one baby, Sonia. She has clubbed feet, crossed eyes, and is developmentally delayed: she probably wound up in the orphanage because her parents could not care for a disabled child. On top of all of this, she has a nasty rash coming down her face and neck and a lip covered in boogers. It was vile and infected. I see one of the nursing students go and get a first aid kit. She scoops up the baby and spends the next hour giving her a bath, talking to her, treating the infected rash, cleaning out her ears and nose, and reporting the situation to the orphanage staff so the baby can get antibiotics and further care.

In the past year as I have applied to medical school, I have written at least 20 essays on the kind of doctor that I want to be: skilled, knowledgeable, culturally sensitive, creative, innovative. I have written blog posts about love and service and care. But here it all was in one young nurse, taking the time to quietly and unassumingly care for a sick little baby. 

'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40 

"It Always Seems Impossible Until it is [almost] Done."

Look at those stacks of boxes 

Can you stack boxes like that?

Catheters for dayssss 

Ok, it looks like nothing and I am quoting Nelson Mandela about apartheid. But these pictures represents hundreds of thousands of dollars of money saved by the hospital after three months of work on my part. St. Croix has received donations of medical supplies for a number of years and no one had really taken responsibility or been able to read the English that the boxes were labeled with to be able to get them in order. I spent 20ish hours a week for the last three months sorting through these boxes (where syringes and cast materials often laid side by side with ice packs and medications), getting them in order, and this week I created a bilingual inventory of the hospital. During my three months, I often felt like Santa Clause. I would appear with IV start kits or syringes or nebulizer masks and delight the nurses who were washing masks or using the wrong sized syringes. Still, the boxes kept coming and the work seemed never ending. Just in time for the humidity to ramp up again, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. It really did seem impossible. But now it is (almost) done. 

There is still work that remains, including training the staff on how to use the new digitized system, getting my stock policies approved,  cleaning up a few more problem areas, and (once my fluorescent pink labels arrive from the USA) labeling each box in French. But for now, I am feeling pretty proud that the hospital now has access to all of these fantastic resources. 

A before shot of a stock room that flooded that I have now emptied! 

Midnight Breakfast!!!

When Fordham's President Fr. Joseph McShane sat all of our parents down as they were dropping off their kids at this strange place in the Bronx, he wanted to assure them that we would be loved and formed by our next four years in a fantastic family. This was the first time I ever heard tell of one of my favorite Fordham traditions, Midnight Breakfast. One night during the finals exam period every semester, they throw open the doors to the cafeteria and everyone is invited in for a smorgasbord of bagels, waffles, eggs, juice, coffee, and soda served by the school's administration (Father McShane always gave you bacon and good luck). Students crawl out of the library, put down their notes, and catch up with friends, relax, and enjoy an hour of food and caffeine. It was always such a glorious break full of love and laughter.

Fast forward a year, we are worried about the students and their stress levels during finals here at FSIL. Putting heads together with the family living here for a couple of months, we hosted FSIL's first ever Midnight Breakfast. 310 eggs, 180 pancakes (and having bought out all of the pancake mix in Leogane), and 6 gallons of Tang later, we had some happy students. Humorously, we have about 9 bottles of leftover syrup. It was most of the students first time ever eating pancakes and they didn't know to use it!

Me and my favorite food. 

Pancakes! 

36 onions, 36 peppers, and 1 knife with a handle on it. 

Lenten Reflections

I know I owe you all a pile of pictures from Carnival, but in the meantime, I wanted to make sure everyone knows that this years YASCers have all joined together to bring you daily Lenten Reflections. My friends around the world are great people with great perspectives, I hope that you will enjoy their reflections as much as I do! Look out for my posts later in the season!

Go here --->http://yasclenten.blogspot.com/