The End of the Road

Total Spring Semester Hours: 55

Total April Hours: 16

    We have reached the end of the semester and it's a little bitter sweat. Many classmates are packing their things and heading back home and others are staying in the city. For me, I will be spending most of my time, if not all, studying for the MCAT this summer. I will continue living in New Orleans the city I was born and raised.

    This month I volunteered with the Habitat team in two locations throughout the city. The first location in Gentilly I was working with a team of volunteers from New York in framing staircases and nailing down outer walls to the structure. A week later Chad and I helped with constructing a chain-link fence in New Orleans East with a high school group from Connecticut. I have much respect for volunteers coming to our city from out of state especially during their vacation to help and rebuild the city and provide housing for less fortunate Americans. I wish to continue volunteering with Habitat and rebuilding the city I grew up in.

    In my conclusion I would like to thank all the faculty and staff that have been so helpful with everything. I also would like to thank my fellow classmates and wish to continue the friendships I have made. From the start of this program I have grown so much and can honestly say I have not one single regret. Goodbye my friends! 

Gentilly Build

 

Framing the Porch

  

Chain-linked Fence Build

Spring is in the air!

     The weather has finally warmed up and days seem to be getting longer so that means it's crawfish season! Next week I will look forward to the pharmacology department annual crawfish boil and this Friday, Good Friday, my family will be boiling close to 300 lbs of crawfish. This has been a tradition in my family as far back as I can remember and it should be a wonderful time. Besides all the crawfish boils, many other festivals are occurring throughout the city in the upcoming months like the one and only Jazz Fest or the French Quarter Festival where you eat till your hearts desire. All this celebration is granted due to the fact that we just finished are shelf exam and deserve a little down time to unwind and live life like everyone else seems to be doing now a days except me. This doesn't mean its time to let loose completely because we still have a month left of school which entitles a few presentations and one more test in cell control. But in general, this year has pretty much come to a close relating to course material.

     For my classmates and I, most of our time is filled thinking of plans for the next year and where we may be working. My plans after graduation are a little foggy and mostly shadowed by the fact of the impending MCAT that I will be taking in the summer. Luckily with all this extra free time next month I will be sure to kick back into gear volunteering with Habitat and at the hospital.
  

Let the Good Times Roll

   It has been a great week following the craziness of Mardi Gras and we are back in full swing. The Mardi Gras season is a time where we more than let go and are embraced by following a nonchalant attitude towards the normal traditions of society. The history of Mardi Gras follows the traditions of French Catholics in which we get all of the partying out of the way before the start of lent. For lent I decided to give up soft drinks and follow the strict rules of not eating meat on Fridays.

   Besides all the partying, I was able to do some volunteering with the New Orleans Medical Reserve Corps. We aided New Orleans EMS in opening first aid shelters and responding to calls that could not be reached on certain areas of the parade route. We responded to many calls to transport patients through the crowds to ambulances that could give them the care they needed. In three days, 138 people were assisted with bandaging and 47 people were provided with direct care in which 22 were transported to EMS. The stations were a huge success and the mayor acknowledged are help in his press release following the closure of the Mardi Gras season. 

First Aid Station on Canal

February hours:
   NOMRC: 23 hrs 

   Ochsner Medical Center: 8 hrs 

The Coldest Month of the Year

Welcome back guys and happy New Year! I have many stories and experiences in my return to this blog from last year that I wish to share with you. The spring semester is three weeks in and going strong and I am geared up and ready for what this semester throws at me. Last week we finished the Endocrine/Reproductive block and it was one of my favorite blocks. The reason being is I have a profound interest in the field of endocrinology, specifically the study of diabetes. I have been involved in diabetes projects in the past through Ochsner hospital and will be again next week in a project with the endocrinology department which will mostly involve going room to room at the hospital asking patients if they know how to check their blood sugar or need assistance. This program is monitored by a joint committee which monitors the levels of diabetic care that medical professionals are providing in the hospital setting out of the clinical aspect. Diabetes is a growing disease, specifically type 2, which is largely related to the epidemic of obesity in our country.  One out of every three people in the US suffers from the early stages of type 2 diabetes and is now being seen in young adults and adolescents evolving from a disease mostly effecting our parents and grandparents.    

Other than that, today I had the opportunity to spend the day with the habitat team. Kin and I worked on a house in New Orleans east mostly installing shoe molding and painting doors. I met a Tulane professor that taught Roman history to undergrads that had lots of advice for proper techniques of the tasks at hand. This gave me the idea that I would love to see our professors in the pharmacology department come and join us one day!

January 31^st: 8 hours