Sunday, May 8, 2011

All Good Things..

I can't believe it is over. Wow, the year flew by. My summit experience has been great. It had its ups and downs, but overall it was great. I really benefited from the classes that help me really learn more about myself and others. For example the colors assessment was great and it made sense when compared to the summit community. One of the greatest things I have learned is that you have to learn to be adaptable. Circumstances and even people change but I need to keep my head in the game and keep truckin'. With the Kitchen, I feel like I have truly made an impact on the Springfield community. The people I met who were often sad and depressed were able to cheer up when being involved in a simple conversation. Being in summit really pushed me to be more active in my community, and I know that without being in summit this year I would probably not have had the great experiences and might not have enjoyed Drury as much as I have. The only thing I might have changed in the summit experience was the Stress Free course. It didn't seemed to be so beneficial, but I do say that it was interesting to see the different types of wellness programs Drury has to offer. My only advice to future summit groups is to always keep a good communication with each other and your advisors.

Friday, May 6, 2011

What a Year

What a year its been in Summit Park. It's been a year of firsts for me, its been the first time I've experienced apartment life, the first time I've worked in a clinic, and the first time I've really spent time working in a field outside my usual interests. If I were to describe my time in Summit park in just one sentence, I would say that it's been an exciting and compelling process from start to finish, where every visit to the Kitchen Clinic provided a new experience, and every Summit Park event provided a new memory - from the yoga classes to the backyard Summit barbecues.

There's many parts of my time at Summit that will stick with me well into the future. For instance, taking time to volunteer to help out the community has become an important part of my schooling, helping me to be more community minded, especially important for my field of study: architecture. The useful tips on everything from budgeting to resumes will stick with me well into professional life, where I hope to be in both a successful career and home life. The greatest impact Summit had on me wasn't so much the volunteering, as the relationships I've gained at the clinic, as well as in our own apartment.

Together, I believe our group has made a lasting impression on our community. Not only did we get to be a friendly face to the many faces of Springfield as they came in for treatment, but we also showed the clinic staff that a new generation was interested in taking action to help out the local community. If it wasn't for living in Summit Park I wouldn't have learned these valuable lessons, leaving me with a purely internal educational focus.

If I could change one thing from this past year, I would seek to spend more time developing a strong resume. I felt almost as if we didn't nearly as much time in development as we could have. Mostly though, I've had a great time in Summit Park, and really wouldn't change much at all. My advice to new incoming Summit Parker's is this, plan ahead to fit volunteer hours into your semester, don't stick to minimums.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

May

My summit experience has been busy but very exciting to meet so many new people. My volunteer hours with the Kitchen Clinic will look very good on my resume especially when applying for a position as a Physical Therapist. The experience with working with others in the same house will also be beneficial in the future because I will be staying with people in the future. The greatest thing I learned from summit was living in a house for the first time on my own without parents or family to be on to me about things such as laundry, dishes, cleaning house and time management. It taught me very quickly how to cook for myself, do my own laundry (I know sad, but true. lol), and time management. The biggest impact we have made with the kitchen clinic I would say is the DVDs and Books that we purchased for their lobby which will leave a lasting impact on the place. If I had not been able to do Summit, I most likely would have been living off campus again and most likely would not have met as many people. I also most likely would have been late to several more classes than normal. Another thing is that I would not have had the volunteer hours without doing summit because without the motivation I would most likely have not made the time for it being a student athlete. The only thing I would change about the Summit experience would be the time the class meets once a month. I would prefer it to meet earlier in the day but I know that is hard to do considering many other classes meet during the early parts of the day. I would at least change the day to a Thursday, that way people can still make plans for friday night, or go home or athletes don't have to worry about missing class due to track meets and games on fridays. I would tell future summit groups to make sure they stay in good communication with each member as well as the agency they were associated with.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Variety at the Kitchen

This semester has been extremely busy, both for me as a student, and for the Kitchen and the always occupied waiting rooms. This Spring I've personally had the opportunity to expand my role at the Clinic from just being an "escort" to taking on more administrative type tasks. Honestly, I prefer it that way as I've never been much of a people person (especially sick people). I like to be behind the scenes doing the often tedious tasks like importing packing slips into the computer. So, for me this semester has been an opportunity to learn more about how a clinic works as a synergistic whole. 

In recent times the Kitchen acquired new office furniture for the spring Missouri State students who intern at the facility, giving me the opportunity to bring my "crafting" skills from architecture into a clinic. I say this knowing that I was able to assemble two desks and an office chair before the clinic staff finished one. This was probably my most enjoyable experience at the clinic. Even while being a minor, if not silly, task, I  found that it was just a hair closer to architecture than the usual unpronounceable medical jargon I've come to know there.

The biggest obstacle I've faced in regards to my volunteering at the clinic has just been getting there. I've been so busy with Architecture that I've not been able to make it every week to volunteer. Luckily my largest project finished up at the beginning of the month, giving me a few extra hours a week to volunteer. I've officially began visiting the clinic twice a week to make up for the lost time. I'm just glad the MSU volunteers are in the clinic this semester to make the operation of the clinic easier on the staff.

With the time we have remaining we will have to decide what the best use of our money will be. With pharmaceuticals costing so much, and many other products being provided already it will be a difficult decision to decide what to do for the Kitchen. Whatever we decide, we've definitely made an effort to have at least one of us there every week to provide a little bit of help. 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

April

Well so far this month I have not been able to make it in to the kitchen due to track and being that its nearing the end I've had many test and papers pile up on me. As it is still early in the month though, I plan on going in tomorrow (wed.) and Thursday of this week to make up some lost time. So far I assume my duties have not changed. The one project we plan on finishing before the year ends is using our allotted funds to buy the kitchen what we agreed would be a more lasting touch with such a small budget. We agreed that buying them educational movies, magazines would be great, because they are planning on buying a flat screen TV soon so it will work out well. Movies,magazines, and books can be used over and over again unlike if we used the money to buy maybe one thing of medicine. All we need to do is get the list of which ones they would like and then organize a time to go out and purchase them.

Paul

March

This month flew by so fast! I only managed to make it into the kitchen 3 times due to school and track obligations. However this year so far my duties have changed dramatically. I now work the phones and use the computer to enter perscriptions into the database. It is not quite as rewarding as directly working with people, but at least I do still feel of some use. Every time I go in I manage to enter stacks of those perscriptions which I know is a big hassel to the kitchen members so I know they appreciate that. I also managed to get my fellow track team member involved in volunteering there starting this past month and he has done a great job from what I hear. He is a spanish major looking to further his submersion in the language so he has been a lot of help there working as an interpreter, often times by himself so I'm not sure how they managed without him! Overall I think its been a good month.

Paul

Saturday, March 19, 2011

March work

I have finally gotten my schedule fixed so I can be back in the clinic! It is a rewarding feeling but it resulted from dropping a class, so the feelings are bittersweet. During my hiatus, I have still been informed about general happenings at the clinic but more than anything its the people I miss that I worked with for the last seven months. I'm excited to see them all soon but first SPRING BREAK!
Ben

Friday, March 11, 2011

Pushing Along

Its been an extremely busy month for me, from the past couple weeks running from 8 AM to 3AM designing in my studio, to squeezing in time in the mornings for volunteering at the Kitchen. Despite the busyness, it's been fun. I'm hoping that I'll continue to find time in this busy semester to keep up a weekly visit to the clinic.

My most recent trip to the Kitchen had me performing "secretarial duties". Being a more behind-the-scenes type person (Gold in color for those that get this), I'm not especially great at making phone calls to patients; however, for my first time I think I did pretty well - especially with the occasional person who hadn't quite mastered the English language (or at least that was my impression). At least it was an opportunity to practice my person to person skills, which is always a good thing.

As spring break looms ahead, I'm hoping to squeeze in a few more hours at the clinic. It's been a fun year so far living and volunteering - even if admittedly I'm not especially interested in the medical field - in Summit Park, and I think as my Architectural design project wraps up before spring break, I'll be able to devote more time to my volunteering.

FebruANY

This month has been great. I was able to be quite useful as I began to pick up on what I can and cannot do. I have now been rooming patients regularly and am beginning to like the real patient interaction. I am also beginning to see more of the personal side of the staff at the clinic. Prior to this month, I had just been one of the volunteers, but now I am beginning to maybe see the staff opening up. We always discuss weekend plans and they show me shortcuts on the work I am doing. It is great getting the support of the staff as I volunteer at the clinic.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Time is Flying

Jon's shot of the Grand Teton's
Time has flown. It's uncanny how it's been five weeks since the beginning of spring semester, and doesn't seem to be showing any signs of slowing down. Hopefully, with the remaining time we have volunteering at the Kitchen Clinic, we will continue to make a difference in the lives of the staff, and the the visitors. While we still haven't officially decided how we will spend our allotted budget, we hope we can provide something to the clinic that will have a lasting effect. I personally don't think it'll be what we spend money on that'll make the largest impact, but how we treat the visitors and the staff. If we can leave knowing that we made a sick patient smile, or showed the value of hard work, maybe it'll rub off on those visitors and instill a need to serve in within them. Giving is always so much greater than receiving.

With a busier schedule than last semester, I haven't had the opportunity to go the Kitchen Clinic personally yet; however, the other members of my group have. My plan is to begin serving beginning next week during some morning free time I have. It'll be nice to get back into the swing of things and let the staff know that I'm still around. Last semester I spent my time as an escort for the patients. In that position, I escorted patients from the waiting room, to the clinic rooms; where I would take their blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Towards the end of last semester, I had a chance to try my hand at more administrative work, where I checked the voicemails, checked medicare statuses, and general administrative work. From what I've heard, this semester, I'll be doing a variety of both Clinic and office work, which should be a nice switch up. 

Devil's Tower rises 1,267 feet off
the valley floor.
During Summit class, one activity stood out to me, camping. Camping is my all time favorite activity, I can't get enough of being immersed in the outdoors. Last summer, my family took a 5,000 mile camping trip across the upper Midwest, visiting the Badlands, Black Hills, Devils Tower, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. Over the course of the trip I took 3,000 pictures, and none of them could do justice to the reality that is actually standing in front of the Grand Teton. Camping has always been fun to me, and is definitely going to be my favorite part of the semester. 

Last semester I think I improved my leadership abilities a lot, through both the working at the Kitchen Clinic, and through my Architecture Major. It's a bit intimidating to lead somebody who is often time much older than you to a patient room, and possibly a bit embarrassing to the patient to have a kid taking their vitals. It's those facts that I think forced me to be a stronger leader when directing people into their clinic rooms by showing the respect and care as I did my job. My Architecture major has placed me in a position of leadership, especially when I'm talking to an underclassmen about their design, or working on drawings as apart of a team in my own studio. I'm not really sure how I'll adapt my abilities for my own Summit Park group yet, but I think it'll become clear very soon as we progress further into the semester.

So far, this semester has been great. I've enjoyed working on my Architecture projects, had fun in our Summit class meetings, and I'm looking forward to starting my volunteer work next week at the clinic. Before I know it, the semester will be over and I'll be looking at a new year at Drury, and maybe with any luck we'll keep making a difference at the clinic.

Put my straw in your milkshake.

OK, I'll admit that the catchy title of this post has nothing to do with our work at the Kitchen Clinic. Its from the movie There Will be Blood and I found myself watching it the other morning (at about 5am) and that line caught me off guard and has been on my mind ever since.
         This semester at the clinic, I would like for us as a group to be able to clock more hours than all other groups and be the top 4 hour accumulators for the spring semester. A little time on top never hurts and the clinic is a deserving place for us to give our time to.
          The greatest experience  I had at the clinic recently was my adventure to the basement, where I might have gotten slightly lost and been down there for about 20 minutes walking in circles trying to find the stairs. Its a scary basement in case you were wondering.
           As I always seem to say, time is the greatest challenge for me to be at the clinic. Class from 9-5 daily is a bit of a hamper on getting to go to the clinic and work, but dropping a class seems to have helped.
           As for the Summit class, I'm rather excited for the 24 hour "Amish" experience/ technology fast. It sounds like a code phrase for get out to Arkansas and go camping or back to the Heifer ranch. I wouldn't mind either so its all good.
            This last semester with Summit has made me a stronger person as a time budgeter. I also have started to also try to and sleep daily. As a leader, I have honed my delegation skills so I can now have others do all the work while I supervise (MODOT style). Just kidding.
Ben

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Stepping Up

This semester has already has had a interesting but better start. It was a little rough in the beginning with the weather storm preventing us from going to the clinic. However, as the weather cleared, I was able to make to the clinic. Not a whole lot had changed over the winter break. So it was great to get back into the flow of things. I started doing my normal routine of entering received medications. As I was working, one of the doctors asked if I had heard a heart with a mechanical valve. Having never heard one, I was curious to hear it. It was really awesome to hear the swoosh sound heard by the valve. After that experience, the nurses asked me if I had roomed a patients. They were surprised to see that I hadn't roomed a patient. It was what I have been waiting for. Under the supervision of another volunteer, I got to room my first patient. I am excited to see what this semester will have in store.

January-February

So far this semester as individuals and as a group we have mainly been focused on readjusting to our new schedules. In particular, I've taken time to warm up to my new class schedule as well as my new and interfering track schedule. I am now in season for track so I know its going to be slightly more difficult to find time to make it to summit class but I've been working around it in one way or another. So its definitely been a slow warm up to the totally different schedule. I've made it to the Kitchen Clinic only once so far just this week but in my one time I did manage to accomplish a lot with figuring out how to use our budget which is great being that I'm in charge of that in our group. Although we took a long time off this semester as a group from the volunteering, we still have a lot of time to make a difference and I'm very confident we will.

The one thing I would say I look forward to the most this semester with the summit class will be the upcoming camping trip. I don't know if I'll be able to make it because of track but if I can that will be very exciting. I love camping, my family and I go camping a lot all throughout the year. Camping is always a good way to get to know people better.

Based on my experiences with the Summit leadership community I would say the most influential thing that this experience has given me is better people skills through working with the summit community activities and our volunteer work at the Kitchen. It has opened my eyes to working with a large variety of people from many backgrounds which will be awesome for me in my future career as a Physical Therapist. I plan to use what I've learned in my future career and on the track as an athlete to help better my team.

Paul