Grand Arbor Tour 1/23/2020
At the Grand Arbor tour, we meet five people that are involved and make a huge impact on the residents living at the facility all in their own ways. We first had met with Rob and Ryan. Rob and Ryan were in the culinary section of Grand Arbor. They had gone on to talk about what kind of different services that just the culinary has in the facility including the bistro, the Pioneer Grill and each household's meals. After meeting with Rob and Ryan we went on to meeting Jordan. Jordan was in the nursing section. Jordan talked about the different nurses and talked about different households and even talked about the activity department. Jordan took us through one of the households to be able to see what they consisted of. The next person we got to meet with was Alice. Alice was in the wellness section of Grand Arbor. Alice brought us through the different sections of the wellness center like the pool, the studio and even in the boxing room. Alice talked about the different classes they offer that are able to meet all residents' needs. The last person we got to meet was Shanna. Shanna was in control of the housing side of Grand Arbor. She is the person that talks to families about where their family members would be best for where they are in their life and takes families on tours of Grand Arbor. Some things that I learned from this experience was that for the wellness they do specific classes for different diseases and disabilities for each resident's needs. I also learned that if a person is in an independent living apartment and something were to happen to them that the nurses at Grand Arbor are not capable of helping them due to liability reasons. I also learned that there are different areas there such as a memory care unit, an assisted living unit and an enhanced assisted living unit. Residents are chosen what unit would best fit their physical and mental needs. My biggest take away from this experience is that Grand Arbor meets all the needs of the residents to make their experience there a better and happier experience.
Alomere Tour
2/4/2020
February fourth we went and toured seven different departments throughout Alomere hospital. The first department we toured as a class was up in the OB department with Kelly Waldorf. Kelly had brought us into a birthing room and even into a postpartum room. We even were lucky enough to see one of the babies that are in the nursery. We then had been able to meet Dave Holman. Dave is one of the respiratory therapists there at Alomere. Dave brought us into the room where they had all the different respiratory machines along with the new ventilation machine that is able to ventilate on its own. Dave talked about respiratory therapy as a whole and what it is all about and how they meet with tons of patients in different situations. From respiratory therapy we then moved to the ER. The person that took us through the emergency room was Steve Dokhem. Steve was one of the nurses in the ER. Steve brought us around through the ER and showed each room and even where the ambulance garage is. There was an ambulance that was in the garage so we got the opportunity to even look inside of the ambulance. After the ER tour, we were able to tour Heartland Ortho. They brought us into the different stations of practices they offer there. From Heartland, we toured the lab at Alomere. In the lab, we got to see many different departments such as the blood bank and even got to see pathology where we got to look at a women’s placenta and someone’s gallstones. After pathology, we went to the CDI. CDI was very busy so we were unable to see each room. Carrie Vogel was the person who talked to us about CDI and the imaging they offer there at Alomere such as the C-arm x-ray. The last department we saw was rehab. Aaron Mccoy was the person who brought us through and showed us the different things they offer for people that need different kinds of rehab such as physical and even speech therapy. Some things that I learned from this tour were while in the ER Steve showed us a chart that they use to measure the babies for medications and even tubes to use. Another thing that I learned from this experience was that in respiratory therapy they have a new ventilation machine that allows the machine to ventilate patients on its own without a person manually ventilating the patient. One last thing that I learned from this experience was that in the OB department the nurses don’t have to come in and check the monitors of baby and mom that they have screens that show them right in the nurses’ station which benefits both the nurses and mom and baby. Some questions that were asked in the tour were in the ER when the busiest time of the year is and Steve responded with the summer as the population of Alexandria increases they see an increase in patients. Another question that was asked was in the OB department if you can go right into OB as a nurse. Kelly responded to this question by saying that typically they want you to have at least a year of experience on the Med/Surg floor and then be trained in OB as it can be a very intense department. The biggest thing that I have taken away from the Alomere Tour is that there are so many departments that Alomere offers to help a variety of different people in the best way for the patient also that the staff at Alomere are very welcoming and kind to make the patient have a good experience overall.
Brain Presentation
2/10/2020
On February 10th a medical student by the name of Trevor Gibbons came into our CAPS class to talk about his brain research that is required as a first or second-year medical student at the University of Duluth. Trevor had many different examples to show our class to better understand the brain. Trevor had two volunteers try memorizing a long-phrase on the board and then leaving the room and then coming back and writing the same phrase on the board in the same order. That was to show the brain’s short term memory. The average person can get to seven letters of the phrase right. He also talked about the noise levels with your ear hairs and how if you listen to something very loud the ear hairs will snap and they are unable to repair. Trevor used a great visual of what happens by taking spaghetti noodles and snapping them to show what happens with those little hairs as things get louder and they move so hard they shatter. Some things that I learned was all the different parts inside the brain and visually getting to see where they are. That most information goes through the thalamus except for smell and the only fibers that are able to come back after being damaged are the fibers for a sense of smell. Some of the questions that were asked were is what is Trevor going for. Trevor answered by saying he is planning on going to be an ear nose and throat doctor and is required to do brain research as a first or second-year medical student. Another question asked was what was the rock structure in the brain that was cut in half. Trevor answered by saying that it was dried blood. My biggest take away from this experience is that there are so many things that go through the brain and your brain controls your body and is so important.
Household exercise
2/19/2020
Today we did a household exercise in the meadows neighborhood. There was six residents that showed up for this household exercise. The leader of the groups name was Stacey. Stacey was very outgoing and was good with knowing what good exercises for the residents would be and made it fun and interacting for each of the residents. We started off with doing some stretches to warm our bodies up. We rolled our wrists, ankles, shoulders and even our hips. We stretched out our legs and arms. For the main exercise we all got a ballon and we would have to do things such as squeeze the ballloon together using our hands, knees and feet. Another exercise we did with the baloons was bouncing the balloon back and fourth from hand to hand. That exercise was focusing on the residents hand eye cordinination. One last fun exercise the residents got to do was a brain exercise. To exercise their brains Stacey had the residents tap their left toes while at the same time tapping their right heal to the floor. The biggest take away from this experience was that there are many different exercises that the residents can still do even if they are in wheelchairs. These exercises make their bones, joints and muscles move and keeps them staying healthy and can prevent injuries.
Boxing Class
2/21/2020
Today I was able to interact in a boxing class. The instructor's name was Kayla. Kayla was very fun and very outgoing and knew each person that was there. Kayla knew what the group liked to talk about to keep them going and to push them all to do their best. We first started off in the cycling room for 20 minutes. The cycling was actually very hard and was a lot of work. I was surprised at how well the patients had done with cycling. After cycling, we went into the boxing room and each got to have a mat and to do good stretches to stretch their bodies before going into boxing to prevent injuries from occurring. They, unfortunately, they didn't get into the boxing aspect until after we had to leave to get back to our class but the patients were very excited and had a fun time being there. The biggest thing that I took away from experiencing this class was that the people who have experienced Parkinson's have gone through a lot but that they all get to do this class together and have something in common made them all happy to be there. They all had a close relationship and loved to have fun and were so hard working.
C-Section Suite
2/27/2020
Today we got to go to Alomere hospital and get to see the C-section suite. The C-section suite was a real operating room that is specifically for C sections. We got to meet five professionals that are work together within the OB section of the hospital. The first person we got to meet was Carrie, Carrie was an operating nurse. Carrie talked about how she went to the tech and has an associate's degree as an RN and that she still is able to do the same as an RN that has a master's degree. Carrie was very passionate about her job and loved what she does. The next person we got to meet was Claire, Claire was a CRNA. Claire talked about all the education she has done and that at Alomere CRNA's and anesthesiologist's work together but she is able to do the same as an anesthesiologist is allowed to do. Claire said that CNRA's now need to get a doctorate degree. The next person we got to meet was Dr. Erika Johnson, Dr. Johnson had a very fun sense of humor and knew a lot about her job and had a very strong passion for her job. She talked about some fun things that she saw throughout her years. The next person we got to meet was Bekki. Bekki was an OB nurse. Bekki is the person that works with the patient and with the midwives. She monitors the mom and baby during the process. The last person we were fortunate to meet was a surgical tech. Her name was Brandi. Brandi doesn't work just in the OB unit but all around and doing all kinds of surgeries. Brandi likes her job because she isn't a doctor but is able to be in the operating room and experience the scenes without that much pressure. Brandi said that she has to know so many types of tools as being a surgical technician. One thing that I learned in this experience was that there are many people that have to work together to accomplish any type of surgery. I also learned that a CRNA in Minnesota has the same capabilities that an anesthesiologist is able to do. Something else that I learned with being in the OR was that there was a certain side that surgeons typically stand on but Dr. Johnson stands on the opposite side. Some questions that were asked were what is the recovery time difference with a natural vs a c section? Dr. Johnson had said that with a natural birth women can get and go after night and will be fine to do anything after post-birth but with a c section they may keep you longer and you have a weight limit to what you can lift with just your arms. Another question that was asked was how does being a nurse affect your personal life and how does scheduling work. They answered with at Alomere the people who have been there longer for nursing get seniority and will have a better chance of getting the time off that they need comparing to a newer nurse.
Total Hip & Knee
3/2/2020
Today Kaidra and I got to experience a pool exercise. The one that we attended was the total knee and hip exercise. Alice was the instructor of this exercise. She was very fun and very interactive with the residents that were there attending the exercise. We focused mostly on working our knees and our hips as the residents are people who have either had or are going to have hip or knee surgery. We started by doing stretches to prevent injuries from occurring. After stretches, we went right into doing the exercises. We did things such as having a noodle and pulling and stretching our hips and knees to work them. We also did a lot of exercises walking down to one side of the pool and doing the same exercise back. Some things that I learned from this experience was that there was a whole variety of patients that attend this class from sex to their age and to why they were there. I learned a lot about the residents and why they were there. I also learned that the buoyancy of the water helps relieve the pain but is allowing them to still get their joints to move and to work. The biggest take away from this experience was that these people all were there for about the same reason and had things in common. They worked so hard and took this experience very serious but also all had a very strong connection together where they had fun at the same time.
Service Excellence
3/6/2020
At the service excellence, we got to listen to four different people one being right from our highschool, Claire Anderson and three people from the Alomere hospital leadership team, Eddie Reif, Mike Doyle, and Celeste Gardener. Eddie is the director of community relations and development so he is in charge of making sure that there is positivity going on there at the hospital. All of the physicians report to Eddie with any complications or concerns at the hospital. Mike is an administrator at the Heartland Orthopedic. Mike does a lot of meetings and does a lot of behind the scenes stuff for Heartland Orthopedics. Celeste is the director of human resources. Celeste oversees most people who are not physicians and does most of the interviewing and hiring of people. Celeste also does some of the budgeting for the hospital. Right away we did a couple of activites in groups to figure out what service excellence is and the meaning behind it. When I first heard service excellence I thought that it meant that they are always polite, they know what they are doing and are compassionate towards the people that come through the door. By the end of the day what I took away was that service excellence is a worker in the healthcare field that is compassionate and reliable. The patient needs come first and you need to give your best quality of care to the patient. Some questions that were asked during the service excellence experience was what does the average day look like to you. Celeste answered by saying they have a ton of meetings that they have to go and get done and they do a lot of paperwork as well. Another question that was asked was did you plan on going into business or healthcare. Mike answered this question by saying he wanted to be in healthcare but then decided he would be better at administration in the healthcare field but he was going to go for the athletic trainer. He said on some days its hard to not get that patient interaction though as he is sitting behind a desk every day.
Casting and Splinting
3/12/2020
For the casting and splinting experience we were introduced to three people from Heartland Orthopedics. There was Paul Westerberg which he is the sports medicine supervisor for heartland. Then we got to meet John Harvey who is a sports medicine physician there at Heartland. Then the last person we got to meet was Brandi Portero. Brandi is a medical student from the University of Minnesota. She is Alomeres U- med RPAP student. We started off with them all introducing their self and giving a short presentation. We interacted as a class with them with a slideshow of many different kinds of x-rays that have been taken and we had to try to identify what was wrong in the x-ray. Paul had taken two volunteers to do a full leg and a full arm cast to present how a cast is put on. Then as a class we got to team up and put forearm casts on our partners to get that hands on experience. We then were able to ask some questions to all three. Some of the questions that were asked during this time were what their favorite part of their job is. They all answered by saying being able to help people and watching them be able to return to the sport that they are so passionate about. Another question that was asked was what to do if your cast was to get wet. Paul answered this question by telling the class that if your cast was to get wet to take a hair dryer and put it on the cold setting to help it to try faster without moving the cast too much. Some things that I learned during this whole experience was that there are different kinds of specialists in orthopedics. I did not know that there was so many people that was able to work just in orthopedics. Another thing that I learned was how casts were put on with having that hands on experience. The last thing I learned was being able to read x-rays better and to better understand how to see when something is wrong with that experience of the slideshow. My biggest take away from this is that people in orthopedics don't just put casts on they have a whole team to be able to do many different things from pediatrics all the way to sports medicine.
Alomere Professionals
4/7/2020
Today we were able to video chat with one of the Alomere professionals to be able to talk and ask questions about Covid-19 from a medical perspective. The physician that we were able to meet with was Dr. Deb Dittberner. Dr. Dittberner is the chief medical officer for Alomere Hospital. We as a class got to to listen to Dr. Dittberner and Eddie Reif talk about what they were able to tell us about the covid-19 pandemic and how our hospital as a whole is responding and planning to take on Covid-19. Eddie had told us that our hospital is not only planning on what they are going to do recently with the virus but also how they are planning on the hospital to react to it when the virus is over as well so they are doing good to plan ahead. Some things that have changed in their day to day work experience due to Covid-19 is that all employees have to wear masks and gloves and is asked short questions about their health and have their temperature taken before going to work. Some questions that were asked during this time was if there is an employee who is pregnant does she get to come to work or does she have to stay home as pregnant women are in the high risk category of Covid-19. Dr. Dittberner answered this question by saying that all pregnant women who have longer than two weeks until their due date can work but anyone that has two weeks left or less is told to stay home and not to come to work at the hospital. Another question that was asked was how is our hospital dealing with the supplies. Dr. Dittberner and Eddie both answered this question with saying that they have enough supplies for a limited number of patients if they were to test positive for the virus but if there was anymore than about 25 Eddie said that the hospital would be in trouble. Some things that I learned is about the types of masks and that you wear masks to stop the spread of the virus if you didn't know you were a carrier. Another thing that I learned was that there is a vaccination that Bill Gates has been working on. Something else I learned from this experience was that there is only one way to test you and that is by sticking a long q-tip through you nose and swabbing where your nose and throat meets. The biggest take away from all of this is that you need to just stay home and if you do go out to stay at least six feet apart and to wear the mask to help stop the spread and slow the peak down.