Hi everyone. Hope weeks have been good, short, fun...all that jazz. I figured it was only fair that I finally explain to you what my field placement is all about. Here goes: So I'm on B6--the oncology/gynecological surgery ward of Sinai Hospital-- apparently MD's third largest hospital. In addition to that, I'll be involved with a project there at Sinai that deals with organ donation. My role in this will be pretty minor, and from what I understand I'll just be shadowing the social worker as she talks with families, figures out if they'll give consent, etc. So far I haven't been able to see any of this happen, but I'm learning a lot about organ donation, and it really is interesting. I'm actually incorporating this piece of my fieldwork into a research proposal (albeit hypothetical) that I'm working on for one of my classes. Love the overlap.
Okay, back to B6. Most of the time is spent doing discharge planning. Not exactly what I expected, and probably not what I'll end up doing once I'm avec degree, but there's value in it nonetheless. It's a lot of logistical support--making arrangements ("referrals" if you're up on the hospital slang) for someone to safely go home, for someone to go to a nursing home, a rehab facility, for someone to go on home hospice, making sure that they have everything they need: e.g. hospital bed if necessary, a walker, wheelchair, things of that nature. It's a very fast-paced, ridiculously busy environment and I often wonder how the social worker with whom I work manages to get around to it all. The unfortunate part is that the interaction with the patient and his/her family never fully seems to develop: there's just not enough time for that. It's also very sad to see people so sick, some who are so near death that you can almost feel it coming, others who are just way too young to have deal with all that a cancer diagnosis brings.
I lost my mom to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma almost seven years ago. She died in a hospital, and I so a lot of what I see is sadly familiar...and though ours was not a success story, I know that they exist. I know that some treatments do work, people can get better. I can't wait to see that side of it all.

On a brighter note, friends....I got a job! As anyone in grad school can attest, the stress of having to take out so much in loans is considerable. I figured it couldn't hurt to line the ol' pocket a little, and so landed myself--just today, actually---a little catering gig. I've never catered before, never even worked at a restaurant serving tables, but I couldn't be more excited. The perks seem plentiful: decent money, super flexible schedule, opportunity to widen the friend network a bit, eat good food for free, and see a lot of weddings and other events that make people really happy. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes. I start tomorrow. Yowza!! That makes Sunday my read/write papers day. But it's still Friday....and on that note, signing off.
More soon.