Cameron Bell - post 6

I thought my blog posts would all consist of me telling you guys crazy, bloody, nasty stories of things I have gotten to see in the ER. However, I have ended up learning and witnessing so much more than just some painful injuries. As I blogged about previously, I have been battling with the ethics of the doctors in the ER and their morals surrounding why they what they do. I saw myself begin to fall into the black hole that is doctor-hood, where the 12-hour night shifts cause the objectification of patients. 

The other night, I had another moment where I saw the sides of being an ER doctor that didn't have to do with stitching a wound or resuscitating a patient. A 93-year-old woman was brought in by ambulance, picked up from a nursing home where she fell out of her bed in the middle of the night. I walked in with Dr. Rose and saw a sweet, tiny old woman laying on the bed, clearly in horrible pain. We learned through a phone call with the nursing home that she had Alzheimer’d Disease and that before this fall, she could usually walk with a walker. She was brought in on a hard board to support her back. She was strapped on tightly and the paramedics left her laying on the bed with the board still attached to her. With one look at her skin, the irritation from the rough board was clearly causing irritation. I was instructed to put on gloves and I, along with three other doctors, undid the straps before rolling her onto her side to pull the board from beneath her. Her scream for help indicated how badly her hip was injured. We quickly checked her lungs and spine before rolling her back off her hip. 

With an X-Ray, we saw that her hip was severely broken and displaced, as shown in the photograph below:

There was no wonder why she was in such pain. Without a doubt, she needed surgery if there was any hope of her getting out a bed again. However, we found on her records DNR-CC, which means do not resuscitate, comfort care. Our patient had asked for her doctors not to take extreme measures to protect her health, but she did want to be kept comfortable. It was us - her doctors - to figure out how this applied to this situation. Any surgery is risky on a woman of her age, and it may full under extreme measures. However, how would she be kept comfortable with such a displaced hip? Another thing to keep in mind was her quality of life previous to the fall. Considering that she was able to walk with a walked before this, her quality of life would be drastically changed without this surgery. A lot of ethics came into play with this decision, which is something that I had yet to experience in the ER. 

This woman, with Alzheimer’s, was not able to make this decision for herself. What was the right thing to do? How did her DNR-CC apply to this situation? The fact that she was previously able to walk is what helped our decision - she had the surgery that morning. This situation was a whole other side to being an ER doctor. 

A Nice Surprise

Friday

Today was complete chaos! I worked with the education department again, where we had 160 first-graders at the aquarium for 3 hours in the morning. They were a part of the "CSI: Creature Science Investigator" program where they learned about different animal adaptations to help them identify creatures in the different exhibits. So, after the lesson, I helped Emily take a tour of about 30 kids and their chaperons around the aquarium so they could look at the adaptations that we talked about. It was actually really difficult to control the group since they were so excited to see the fish. So Emily and I did our best to herd them around the aquarium without disrupting any of the other guests. But, they seemed to really enjoy their visit and they especially liked the shark tube which does tend to be a fan favorite!

In the afternoon after a little bit of a break, I got a special visit from two of my favorite science teachers (Mr. Daly and Ms. Post)!! I took them on a personal tour of the aquarium, showing them all of the fishes and explaining a little bit about what I've been working on for the past two weeks. It was nice to see them and be able to show them that what I learned in Marine Science has actually helped me in life!

Filtration System and Quarantine

Thursday 

I spent all day behind the scenes with the Aquarists working to help clean and maintain the many filters that clean the water in all of the tanks. The filtration process is extremely complicated and it was hard to keep up with all of the different methods and how they work. Regardless, I helped Ray to clean the protein skimmers so that they would work more efficiently to rid the water from any debris and fish feces. It was pretty gross to look at, but that means that its doing its job which makes the fish very happy! I also spent a little time in the water quality lab testing for levels of iodine and chlorine in the live coral exhibit to make sure that the water is healthy for the coral and the fish. It was really cool to see how it was done because it was just like simple chemistry labs that we've done in class (eg. Bohr Titration to test for chlorine)!

I also got to spend time looking around in the saltwater and freshwater quarantine rooms where some of the animals that aren't on display are held. Ray explained that the animals that are in quarantine could be there for several reason, mainly if they are sick, or if they are new to the aquarium. New animals go through a 30 day quarantine process to help acclimate them to the aquarium life and to make sure they are healthy enough to be put on display with the other animals. So during the 30 days, the animals on quarantine are given medicine that will help to destroy and internal/external parasites or any unhealthy bacteria that could make them or the other animals sick. Luckily, there were only a few animals that were sick! The majority of the animals that were in the quarantine tanks were new animals that were given to the aquarium as gifts or through a trade!

Sharks

Tuesday

All day on Tuesday I worked with Ben and Emily as part of the education program. There has been a large amount of school groups visiting the aquarium in the past few weeks since school has been winding down to an end. So, I spent all day shadowing two different education programs with different school groups. The first program that I shadowed Tuesday morning is designed to teach 4^th – 6^th graders about Coral Reef construction. I was a part of this program the other day as well so if you would like to learn some really cool facts about coral and its habitat you can refer back to my previous posts.

The second program that I helped with taught a few classes of 8^th graders about the features of sharks and their importance to the ecosyst

em. They learned about different adaptations and functions that sharks possess. For example, the kids learned how different species of sharks have different shaped teeth for different reasons because their eating habits differ depending on what their desired prey is. Sand Tiger Sharks’ teeth are long and sharp, designed for piercing, while Tiger Sharks’ teeth are serrated because they are designed for tearing into their prey.

The students also learned about one really cool evolutionary advantage that allows sharks to glide through the water almost effortlessly. Sharks have really cool skin, known as dermal denticles, meaning ‘skin teeth’. Sharks scales are tooth-shaped (hence the name) which allow water to flow over the ridges extremely fast. This can increase the speed that a shark can swim drastically, making it a really fast and really dangerous predator. It was great to see how much the kids loved to learn about the sharks! Because, they really are one of the coolest fish in the ocean.

Another Day

Today I realized how much independence I have gained in the zoo over the past couple of weeks. I worked in commissary all day today and she had me on the meat diets working by myself. Two new volunteers started today in the commissary and she was showing them around and one of the first things they did was unpacking the new produce that had just come in. They had no idea where to go, they were worried how to pack it and I kind of chuckled to myself realizing that that was probably me for about the first couple of days. Extremely worried that if I put the lettuce in the wrong way then I would get in trouble. As I did my meat diets I listened to the countless questions they asked and wondered. It was really interesting because it does not feel like I was ever in their situation at all. I know where everything is in the commissary; I know the order of things, how things work and roll. I can work on my own with no problem and yet, it only took me about a week to get into this rhythm I am in, and now that I am finally in it I am about to leave it.

Conservation

As things are starting to come to a close, I am finally starting to get a hang of things. Today was my last day doing the education station and I have certainly learned a lot. It helped me learn the importance of conservation and helping others realize it as well. When guest ask how horns from the animals are taken, I make sure it is known that the only way to take the animal’s horns is to kill the animal. Horns are attached to the animal’s skull plate and are not shed off like antlers, even though these horns may be pretty or great hunting tools, you are harming the animal’s population just because you think something is pretty. Again, I love that zoo stresses these points to their guests and I think more zoos need to make more of an effort to talk about conservation and poachers. I think if more zoos took as great of care as their animals as the Naples Zoo does, then we would have happier and better zoos. I think it is all about getting the word out and letting it be known to be people what is out there and what possibilities there can be and that there can be zoos that does not just rip animals out of their habitats. 

Julia Ullman 3:1

As I enter the final week (Wednesday to Wednesday), it feels as if this project has been going on for much longer than 2 weeks.  I feel so at home in the temple office, mostly because I already knew everyone and have spent some time there before.  But either way, I have gotten to know everyone even better and have learned a lot.

 

Today was kinda a lazy day, but we managed to get a lot done.  I spent a lot of time wrestling with computers and Outlook Calendars.  I finished another big task after I spent a long time searching for upcoming events on the temple calendar.  These dates will also help me with the final few tasks in the next few days.  Beth and I worked on a lot more organization of her office and many craft and project supplies.  There is always something to do!

This afternoon, Beth and I took a ride over to Kate’s house to visit her and meet the baby! Oh so cute! I unfortunately didn’t take any pictures because we didn’t want the entire rest of the youth group to see it and want to come visit too, or at least not just yet! Little Ellie is so precious, tiny, and adorable.  I haven’t held such a young baby in a really long time.  That was definitely the highlight of my day! 

Julia Ullman 2:3

Today I wore a few different shoes.  In the morning, I finished a huge task: Progress Reports.  I had to learn to use the automatic paper-folding machine (that makes things trifold to go into an envelope) and then stuff all the envelopes with the proper address labels.  Then, I battled the mail machine to stamp and seal all the progress reports to send out to the Religious School families. It was quite a task but it is all done and mailed!

At noon, I left the temple to shadow my rabbi during a funeral and home visitation for a congregant who passed away late last week.  Rabbi wanted to give me the opportunity to shadow him and learn from him while I am in the office daily.  Being fairly ahead of schedule on the task list, I felt ready to do something more active than just being in the office.  Anyway, I had been to this particular funeral home before, but not as a “professional”.  Instead of being there for a sad reason, I was there to learn and be behind the scenes.  Many people thought I was a family member or something, but I just explained that I was shadowing the rabbi.  He introduced me to the staff there and walked me through a lot of the process.  When we went to the cemetery, I discovered that the family had chosen to use a mausoleum instead of burial.  Though not a completely foreign concept to me, it was definitely a weird feeling to walk into a hallway of many graves basically surrounding me.  After the brief service there, we then went to the family’s home.  The Jewish practice of Shiva is a week (or so) of visitation following the funeral.  The rabbi led a short prayer service there before we headed back to the temple.  It was quite a deep, meaningful day. 

I really appreciated the hands-on experience, just being able to go out and really learn something by watching it really happen.  I definitely love interacting with people, being there for them at a time of need, and being a spiritual presence, all of which I saw my rabbi doing today. 

Jackson Goldberg - Day 14

More writing today, but some filming as well. I guess I'll start with the writing, though there really isn't a whole lot of new information to report. I'm about ten pages in, and I'm thinking it's getting a little long because I've just got to the inciting incident. I'm trying to keep it below 30, but it's definitely best to write more than you think you need then less, just so you have all your ideas out on the table. If need be, you can truncate the story and clean it up a bit later. As for filming, we returned to Boulevard Elementary School today to film more for the end-of-year video, which I believe we will continue to work on throughout the rest of the week. Mostly we focused on getting outdoor shots of the older kids (fourth graders, in this case), either playing games together or at least interacting in large groups. I actually got a chance to direct some of the children myself. It wasn't much, but we needed a low-angle shot of some students playing basketball, so I set up the camera, positioned the kids and told them what to do/where to go to avoid going out of frame. Again, nothing particularly heavy, but it was a nice nugget of experience.

Cameron Bell - post 5

Last night was for sure the most emotionally draining night so far. Dr. Rose and I started our shift at 6 pm, getting all of the Memorial Day shenanigans. We walked in joking about the firework accidents, grill burns, and drunken falls that we would be mending that night. However, that isn't how the night ended up going.
First came in a man who was experiencing detox after not having enough money to but another 24 pack of beer for the day. He was experiencing severe nausea and abdominal pain when he eventually worked his way into a full blown seizure. He called 911 himself and was admitted into the hospital once we discovered that he had severe pancreatitis - inflammation of the pancreas. The thing about the pancreas is that is it the organ that produces enzymes which digest what you eat, but consequentially, the pancreas is made of what you eat. When pancreatitis occurs, the patient's pancreas begins digesting itself. While a normal lactase level is 0-20, his was at 7500. This number made every doctor and nurse gasp. The only way to treat pancreatitis is lack of food for 24 hours and lots of liquids, so that is what we did.
Next came in two psych patients, each of whom severely bonded to me. The doctors said they "imprinted" on me, making me the person they trusted. One patient was a 40 year old woman who was brought in by the police. I have to keep her story confidential, but it became an issue of domestic violence in which the police got involved. In order to take action, the patient needed to admit certain aspects of the story directly to the police, but she only felt safe telling me when we were alone in the room. It put me in a difficult situation because I couldn't help her understand that the police would help her, not harm.
It was a very emotional and unexpected night, but it was one I will always remember.

Jackson Goldberg - Day 10/Weekend

So I've been writing. A lot. I'm about seven pages into the script, but screenwriting isn't something that just flies from your mind and onto the page, at least not when you're this green. There are a lot of things to consider and be careful of that makes the process a bit slower than you might think. What I've personally found most challenging is having the characters act and sound like real people. You don't want the dialogue to be boring, but you also don't want each and every line to be a "witty" one-liner that no one would actually say, especially because it takes a lot of experience to be clever without sounding like you're trying too hard. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, you generally have to keep the characters from spouting information that the audience can figure out by themselves. Using an example from the script I'm working on, if you want a character to be home sick, having him blowing his nose and looking pale is enough to convey that information. You cannot have him say to his roommate "oh, yeah, I've been sick for a week, which is why I've been off of work lately", because of course he would know that already. The audience is not stupid, and they are more than capable of figuring things out without things being shoved in their faces.

Day at the zoo

Yesterday I experienced a little different of a day. I would have posted yesterday bust unfortunately I had gotten dehydrated and was feeling up to it. Anyways, I finally got to view the zoo through the eyes of the guest. I had finished work and my parents wanted to go to the zoo for the afternoon. It was a really interesting experience to be in the crowd and see how the keepers and people who work there try and reach out to the guest. They don't have keepers out all the time talking to the guest but they do have specific times where guest can go talk to keepers and see shows and learn about conservation and animals which I think is great. The fact that they put the effort out there to have shows specifically about conservation is awesome. They really want to make the effort to inform their guest.  My favorite part about the zoo is the primate section. The only way to actually see the primates is by boat. Each monkey exhibit is by island. All the monkey species live on a lake so they are not acrually in an inclosure. I love this, since the monkeys where never in the wild they do not know how to swim, which means they able to feel free and not closed up. If more zoos were to treat their animals like this, then animals would live longer, happier lives in these zoos and people would not feel as conflicted as they do.

French Market

Instead of going to a catering party, Jacob and I worked at the Katz Club booth at the French Market in Ohio City. Throughout the event we were preparing the sandwiches that were being sold. I had the vegetarian ones and Jacob had the BLTs. After the first hour, both of our backs were in pain from hunching over for so long. Tempting us near by was an ice cream stand with amazing strawberry ice cream that had balsamic drizzled on it. No worries, we got some when we took our lunch breaks. The day went by quickly, but after a while making the same sandwich got tiring. While making the sandwiches the four of us at the market were able to talk and hang out when the lunch rush was dying down. I had a lot of fun helping out at the French Market and it was a nice change of pace. We got to be outside on a beautiful day instead of being stuck inside. Doug Katz was wondering whether or not to continue doing this the next month and I think that they should. Although you don’t make that much money, it is a great place to gather new customers that have never been to the diner before.

Catering Weekend 1

On Sunday I worked a catering event. I met everyone at the house in Shaker Heights about two hours before the party started so we could get everything ready. Most of the food was prepared ahead of time at the Diner, which is where all the catering is gone through. The pastrami and short rib sandwiches were assembled on spot along with the salad, but everything else just needed to be put in the oven for a few minutes so it would not be cold. In between the prep time and when the thirty guests would arrive we all stood around and talked until we had to start plating the appetizers that would be walked around. I stayed back to make sure that the appetizers would keep going out on time until we finished then off. Then we had to make sure the sandwiches and salmon were plated and brought into the main dining room before the guests made their way there. Overall, it was not as slow as Jacob’s party, we were never in a complete rush because there was only about thirty guests. I enjoyed working at this party and am excited to go to another one next Sunday.