I successfully finished the first week of my internship in Sedona, AZ!
Is it October yet?
Just kidding. The internship IS hectic, but it is a beautiful chaos. I am interning at Kachina Point Health Care Center, which is a skilled nursing facility in a gorgeous part of Sedona (which part of Sedona is NOT gorgeous I suppose!).
Here is a picture of what I see when I park in the parking lot each morning. Not a bad rap, huh?
The rehab wing of the facility is smallish (probably less than 100 beds, I dont know how many for sure), and the patients are, in general, elderly and extremely medicaly complicated. I'm definitely not going to come across any charts that read "65 yr old patient with simple ankle fracture. Physical therapy for balance and return to home" basically. They are more like "98 year old male with history of high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, drinking, inactivity, colon cancer, lung cancer, emphysema, 9 various surgeries, multiple toes amputated, pressure wounds, on oxygen, a feeding tube, etc etc etc you get the idea..."
What a challenge!
There are about 10 therapists at KPHC, a mix of PT, OT and speech therapists. We all share one gym (a room the size of my small apartment), in which 10 patients are treated at a time. The patients are usually hard of hearing, so it gets quite amusing to witness the chaos of trying to maneuver around with your particular patient and get results out of them with other therapists screaming across the room loud enough for their OWN patient to hear: "raise your right leg...NO, MR JONES, YOUR OTHER RIGHT!! I said RIIIGHT!! GOOOOD!" Like I said, beautiful chaos.
I spend most time NOT in this therapy room, however, but preparing the patients to even MAKE IT to therapy! I estimate that 68-81% of a given day is spent changing catheter bags, cleaning up after bathroom accidents, convincing our alzheimers patients to put shoes on and playing along with their hallucinations to get them out of their room, changing sheets and clothes when feeding tubes leak, helping patients sit up, waiting for them to cough up banana cream pudding-like mucus after they sit up, reminding people to "breath in through your nose and out through your mouth", changing empty oxygen tanks, shuffling down the hall at .0002 mph, and talking to people about their past and their family and their doggie at home who just can't wait to see them! What a great variety within a single day!
The patients are SO precious, I love them. There are the sweet, the sassy, and the flat out cynical...but I enjoy them all!
I have learned a lot about treating these kinds of patients this week, but probably I have learned more about life and decisions I want to make now to benefit myself in old age. I have made decisions about taking care of MY family in the future, what kind of attitude I want to approach difficult situations with in my own future, and the kind of power that unconditional love and optimism have on a person and everyone around them. They are infectious and wonderful.
That's about it for the first week. 1 down, 31 to go before graduation!
Is it October yet?
Just kidding. The internship IS hectic, but it is a beautiful chaos. I am interning at Kachina Point Health Care Center, which is a skilled nursing facility in a gorgeous part of Sedona (which part of Sedona is NOT gorgeous I suppose!).
Here is a picture of what I see when I park in the parking lot each morning. Not a bad rap, huh?The rehab wing of the facility is smallish (probably less than 100 beds, I dont know how many for sure), and the patients are, in general, elderly and extremely medicaly complicated. I'm definitely not going to come across any charts that read "65 yr old patient with simple ankle fracture. Physical therapy for balance and return to home" basically. They are more like "98 year old male with history of high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, drinking, inactivity, colon cancer, lung cancer, emphysema, 9 various surgeries, multiple toes amputated, pressure wounds, on oxygen, a feeding tube, etc etc etc you get the idea..."
What a challenge!
There are about 10 therapists at KPHC, a mix of PT, OT and speech therapists. We all share one gym (a room the size of my small apartment), in which 10 patients are treated at a time. The patients are usually hard of hearing, so it gets quite amusing to witness the chaos of trying to maneuver around with your particular patient and get results out of them with other therapists screaming across the room loud enough for their OWN patient to hear: "raise your right leg...NO, MR JONES, YOUR OTHER RIGHT!! I said RIIIGHT!! GOOOOD!" Like I said, beautiful chaos.
I spend most time NOT in this therapy room, however, but preparing the patients to even MAKE IT to therapy! I estimate that 68-81% of a given day is spent changing catheter bags, cleaning up after bathroom accidents, convincing our alzheimers patients to put shoes on and playing along with their hallucinations to get them out of their room, changing sheets and clothes when feeding tubes leak, helping patients sit up, waiting for them to cough up banana cream pudding-like mucus after they sit up, reminding people to "breath in through your nose and out through your mouth", changing empty oxygen tanks, shuffling down the hall at .0002 mph, and talking to people about their past and their family and their doggie at home who just can't wait to see them! What a great variety within a single day!
The patients are SO precious, I love them. There are the sweet, the sassy, and the flat out cynical...but I enjoy them all!
I have learned a lot about treating these kinds of patients this week, but probably I have learned more about life and decisions I want to make now to benefit myself in old age. I have made decisions about taking care of MY family in the future, what kind of attitude I want to approach difficult situations with in my own future, and the kind of power that unconditional love and optimism have on a person and everyone around them. They are infectious and wonderful.
That's about it for the first week. 1 down, 31 to go before graduation!
