Last Day of Observation 7-14

The three days that we spent in Cherokee were wonderful and opened my eyes to a new culture and almost a new world because of the lifestyle and things seen while visiting. There are a few critical issues that the people of Cherokee face daily from poor management of diabetes and hypertension to the dangerous world of drug and alcohol addiction, use and withdrawal. I feel that these medical issues are related to deficient knowledge and health maintenance.  I feel deficient knowledge because Cherokee children are not encouraged or taught the good that can come from working hard, trying and taking care of themselves. Many Cherokee children have grown up watching the parents, families and elders not taking care themselves, using drugs or alcohol and spending money on unnecessary or harmful things more often then they see them succeed and work hard to make their lives better. Typically, in situations like this it is the Nurses role to educated and show them the way to be health. However, I feel from what I saw this week the education about medication, side effects, long term effects and goals is lacking. Several times this week I have heard and saw patients that decided to take themselves off their medication and no one educated them on the risks or side effects of not taking the medication. Overall my experience at Cherokee was wonderful and cannot fully be displayed in my blog postings. Everyone we met, interacted with, listened to opened my eyes to the beautiful Cherokee culture and taught me lots about patience, understanding and realizing that you never know someone story. 

"You know my name,not my story.You've heard what I've done, not what I've been through. Try walking in my shoes before you judge me"--Unknown 

Asheville adventures on 7-13

Today when visiting Asheville, we got a tour of Mission Children’s hospital. Mission is the only children’s hospital in Western North Carolina. I feel that Mission Children’s hospital is very comparable to the health care system back home. Though Methodist Medical Center does not have but a five-bed pediatric unit it is very comparable to the Children’s Hospital of Illinois. When working in pediatrics you are not only caring for the child you must understand and care for the family as well. Mission Hospital does a great job of incorporating the parents/guardians in the care. They allow and encourage parents to write information and questions on the board in the room. The medical team also rounds daily and asks the families/child if there are any questions, comments, or concerns with care. In the NICU specifically every day the medical team meets with parents in a separate room to give them an update as well as plan for their baby. The parents can ask questions and make comments to the team during the meetings. I feel having the rounding and team meetings is the best way to family and the child involved throughout their stay and is exactly what I feel hospitals should do. Today there were obvious similarities and differences in the environment from Cherokee to Asheville. Things that were similar include the southern hospitality, as well as the laid-back attitude towards time and efficiency. The major differences were the cleaner environment as in not as many run-down buildings, garbage around housing communities and way more resources for the public. Today I feel the hospital facility at the Reuter Mission Children’s clinic was something extraordinary that stood out to me. The clinic houses all medical specialty offices for Children in one place. It also houses a child safety office which helps with neglect and abuse. I feel it stuck out to me because it is like nothing I have seen before. They clinics all work together to schedule patient’s appointments consecutively if multiple specialties are involved to allow one trip for families instead of different appointments on different days.  Overall Asheville as well as Mission hospital is a great place and potentially somewhere I would and could be in the future. 

" Just because your past may not have been perfect, doesn't mean that your future can't be amazing" -- Robin Sharma 

Adventures of day 3

It was the second day of clinical at the hospital today. Today we got to experience different sites then yesterday today I was in a pediatric primary care office. One of the great things about Cherokee Indian Hospital is the primary care offices are within in the hospital. I think that Cherokee has a great set up because the clinics and all other medical resources are within the hospital. Today’s experience showed me how child rearing is practiced. In the Cherokee culture it is not uncommon to see grandparents raising their grandchildren or even great grandchildren. It is also not uncommon to see children being raised by other Cherokee families. Many of times these arrangements are due to drug and alcohol use as well as unsafe/unstable families. The Cherokee do NOT like to place the children with families that are not within the same culture. In the Cherokee culture the Elders have much respect because of their history and knowledge they withhold. Today in my clinical experience I observed a single mom and her son as well as a women who identified one child as hers and one as her grandchild. Within the Cherokee boundary there are several programs that help support families. Those programs include services within the hospital, Behavioral Health Services for Cherokee Children, Adults and Families, Tribal Child Support Services, VAWA, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault program. One word that I have often heard during my time in the medical field is resilience which is ability to bounce back. Many use the word especially when talking about children. The Cherokee children show resilience in many ways. Some of them were able to bounce back after the torture in boarding schools, to them testing positive of drugs at birth and recovering from that. I feel that because of their resilience many Cherokee children and families have hope and faith. They have hope that things will get better and their believe that something will come along a help aka faith.

Tonight we had a new experience… Our instructor received a new contact within the Cherokee boundary and to aid them in helping families that foster within the boundary we as students collected donations over the last few months back home and tonight we attended her husbands church service and gave them the items collected. The items included clothes, shoes and school supplies. I was very blessed that we were able to help people that we so welcoming and open to us.

" I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become" -- Carl Gustar Jung