Journal Entry 3 - Ivonn Otavalo

This week in my placement I continued reading a prenatal book. While reading it, I realized how helpful it will be for my research paper. This book is full of useful information, so useful that I decided to take notes on it while reading. I had a chance to tell Miriam how my essay will be planned and what topics I might include from the book. I found the following topics to be interesting:

Breech - when the baby is not in the right position when the woman is about to give birth.

Relaxation Methods - Methods that will allow the future mom to stay calm and patient when experiencing contractions and when she is about to give birth.

I also came up with topics my essay might include including prenatal exams in detail, pregnancy concerns, a healthy baby, do and don't during pregnancy, eating healthy during pregnancy, cravings, sex during pregnancy, breech and relaxation methods.

Journal Entry 3 - Ivonn Otavalo

Journal Entry 2 - Ivonn Otavalo

This week at my placement I continued typing the "Newborn" packet which was assigned to me. While typing, I realized how important the mental development of a baby is. I also realized that parents should be very attentive to their children.

Baby Facts:

- Like adults, babies need love and caring
- Babies love attention and are said to be very observant
- Babies are so intellectual and their intellectuality depends on the care of a parent from the day they are born.

Journal Entry 2 - Ivonn Otavalo

Journal Entry 9 - Zaire Smalls

I'm part of an organization called global kids. At global kids we hold an annual youth conference. The goal of Global Kids is to make NYC youth global citizens, making them aware of the issues the world around us faces and what we can do to help. So every year there is a different topic. This year our topic is "Child Rights." Since the US and Somalia are the only countries of the United Nations who haven't ratified the "Convention of Rights of a Child" (CRC), we used this as our purpose.

Our focus was to use the CRC to show the rights children should have compared to the rights they actually have in the world. In the workshop I created and lead, "Children's Health," we took a look at Zimbabwe, China, Britain and India's health care systems and what services children receive as well as how they are paid for. Why they dont match up wtih the CRC and how we can change this. It was a good workshop, people learned a lot.

The wholoe conference was wonderful and there was a petition and videos about the ratification of the CRC in teh US. Rosario Dawson came to the conference and spoke about her direct role in l I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World, written by the same woman who authored the Vagina Monologues.

Journal Entry 9 - Zaire Smalls

Journal Entry 9 - Tenzin Lhamo

This week me and my mentor were working on our final project. My topic is on Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and the reason why I picked this topic is because one of my family members has similar symptoms but the one she has is an unknown disease. There is some information I learned about RA:

- RA is a long term disease that leads to inflammation of joints and its surrounding tissue
- This disease is genetic
- This disease requires lifelong treatment

Journal Entry 9 - Tenzin Lhamo

Journal Entry 9 - Faith Fordjour

I did a lot of shadowing this week. Since I am having my final project on Hematology/Oncology, Sonia, my mentor allowed me to shadow two nurses on the HemOnc unit. I learned a lot about Hematology/Oncology. Hematology is the study of blood disease. Oncology is the study of cancer. The reason why they are put together is because they are kind of related. Even though I had a lot of information from the two nurses, Amy and Tenesha, there is a lot of research I need to do myself.

Some of the things I learned are that Hematology consists of Hemophelia, Sickle cell, Leukemia and vWD. These are all bleeding disorders except for Sickle cell which is a blood disease and Leukemia which is a blood cancer.

Journal Entry 9 - Faith Fordjour

Journal Entry 8 - Zaire Smalls

At my site I have been assigned a project to make and manage the resource books for all the social workers. This is a bit of a task - it is not hard but it is a little tedious. I have to put them in categories then make copies if the document fits into more categories. I did this for two binders and then put copies in 7 binders.

The interesting part of this is to see all the different organizations and their functions. Most of the organizations are in Brooklyn as well as Manhattan. They each do something different than the last, but having said that, there are many similar organizations as well. Honestly, I am fascinated.

Journal Entry 8 - Zaire Smalls

Journal Entry 8 - Tenzin Lhamo

This week my mentor taught me what I need to do in on order to get ready for college. The first thing she taught me was how to stand out from my other competitors. In order to do that she told me to write all the programs and all the after school activities I have attended so far. So I have made a list full of programs I have attended in the last 3 years along with the description.

Journal Entry 8 - Tenzin Lhamo

Journal Entry 7 - Sherlyn Aldas

Emelin was absent due to jury duty so I worked at the Audobon clinic with one of the foster grandparents. I read to a kid and then he read back to me but he was not so sure about the words so he made it up. He had a very vivid imagination and he made me laugh.

Later on, a lady with a child asked me to help her translate. I felt great being able to help her, especially since I haven't translated for my mom in a while and it made me feel useful. I also have been thinking of an idea in order to get people interested in participating in my book donation. I was thinking of offering a prize as more people would be interested in donating more books.

Journal Entry 7 - Sherlyn Aldas

Journal Entry 8 - Faith Fordjour

Although I thought I would finish shadowing Dr. Davis, she ended up being very busy. I was disappointed but I decided to look at the bright side; I got to spend more time with the patients. Monday was the best day at Mount Sinai this week. I met a lot of interesting kids. I met this boy who said he was a "mermaid boy." It was quite funny, plus, he had a lot of energy. There was another child who got so attached to me that he wanted me to sit right next to him and give him all my attention. He only knew a few words in English and he kept shouting "nice!" every time he scribbled something on the paper.

Kids are the cutest.

The other two days were a bit less exciting. on Thursday I met with a girl who read to me. She was a second grader and she was quite a good reader. I was very impressed.

Journal Entry 8 - Faith Fordjour

Journal Entry 1 - Ivonn Otavalo

This week in my placement I was very busy, something I enjoyed. I have been re-typing prenatal handouts in order for them to be clear for future moms to read. While re-typing, i learned certain things I was not aware of. I learned that even though a woman is pregnant, she is still allowed to have sex as long as she feels fine and takes precautions. I also learned that pregnant women need to have a balanced diet while being pregnant and must have certain amounts of milk or cheese, rice, beans, eggs and wheat. Something that really surprised me was learning that even though a woman is pregnant, she can still exercise and stay active unless there is a serious problem that prevents her from doing so.

Journal Entry 1 - Ivonn Otavalo

Journal Entry 7 - Zaire Smalls

After looking at insurance claims this past week, I began to wonder about the assistance programs for people who do not have health insurance. I learned that people can get limited or temporary health care. Temporary health care is about 90 days.

But what do you do after that?

I decided to look into the assistance programs to get a better picture. I want to find out what programs there are and who they apply to. Is there an age range? How do you qualify? Where the services you would be assisted with and what is the possibility of implementing these services into intake. I will speak with my mentor on about this as it is something I am interested in.

Journal Entry 7 - Zaire Smalls

Journal Entry 7 - Tenzin Lhamo

This week my mentor taught me about general information and what physical therapy looks like when a patient first comes to visit. This is called an evaluation. I watched and learned as she evaluated a foot.

1. Strength: how strong is the leg? Is the leg working regularly?

2. Range of Motion: Is the leg working properly, is the range of motion the same as it is in uninjured individuals?

3. Flexibility - Can the patient move as smoothly as an uninjured person?

4. Gait - How is the person's ability to walk?

5. Joint mobility - Is the patient's muscle joint at the right or the back?

6. Balance - Can the patient balance like an uninjured person?

7. Posture/positioning of foot - Does the patient have normal flat feet? Do they arch? Is there swelling/

Journal Entry 7 - Tenzin Lhamo

Faith Fordjour 8 - Journal Entry

This week was alright. I was supposed to shadow a doctor but they were all very busy. Sonia, my mentor was asking nurses to allow me to shadow them like I did the last time. The nurses were also busy so I went back to helping the kids read and color. This was good for me because we have been so busy, I haven't done this in a while!

One time I helped another volunteer clean up Sonia's Office. Sonia's office is like a closet filled with books so Paul, one of the volunteers, and I decided to clean it out. It was a lot of hard work and organization but we did it. We made the office look half empty by the time we were done. We sorted out the books and placed them in categories. this was a good lesson to me because i learned not to wait until things pile up to start them!

Faith Fordjour 8 - Journal Entry

Journal Entry 6 - Zaire Smalls

This week at my site, Lauren and I went to the MediCaid office. Lauren showed me how to hand in the form for presumptive and regular medicaid applications. This was very interesting to do because it is so simple. Not in a bad way though, in a good way: You show your ID and go to a window just for health care workers and hand the form in. You also pick up any form that needs to be approved or denied.

After this, I got to spend some one on one time with my mentor, which was awesome. It was a nice day in general.

Journal Entry 6 - Zaire Smalls

Journal Entry 6 - Viviana Sanchez

This week, I completed an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) training. I went with Fay and with another worker. The whole purpose of this training is to learn how to put a patient's medical records on a computer instead of keeping them in written medical files. The whole procedure was a lot to absorb. There were parts that were more difficult than others. I go to this computer training every Monday. Fay told that later she will teach me more about EMR procedure because I will be doing it later on.

The next day I came in and we were talking about the training that I wen tot. We started doing supervision worksheets. She taught me about supervision and when and where it is used. The purpose of these worksheets is just to get together with Fay and tell her about my work and whether I have any questions or need help so she can help me with anything that I need.

Journal Entry 6 - Viviana Sanchez

Journal Entry 6 - Sherlyn Aldas

I have not spent a lot of time at my externship due to schedule changes. However, I did not just spend time doing nothing. I decided to start working on a new way to get more books for the Reach Out and Read program.

I also got evaluated by Emelin, my mentor for my performance review. Although she mostly had positive things to say, she wants me to converse more and be a bit more outgoing. I shared with her the idea of extending the book drive and she told me I should go to her in case I need more help but to mostly try to solve the problems immediately and face on.

Journal Entry 6 - Sherlyn Aldas

Journal Entry 6 - Tenzin Lhamo

This week my mentor taught me about the upper part of our body. The sternum, which is also known as the breast bone is connected to our ribs, although not all of our ribs are connected to the sternum. The upper sternum is called the Manubrium and the lower is called the Body. Both the Manubrium and Body are connected with only 6 ribs even though we have 10 ribs. It is because some of our ribs are connected with other ribs, through the Costal (hyaline) cartilage.

In total, we have 20 ribs, 10 in each side, both left and right. We have ribs because they protect our lungs, heart and kidneys. It is amazing to find out how important our ribs are.

Journal Entry 6 - Tenzin Lhamo

Journal Entry 7 -- Faith Fordjour

This week was so wonderful. I finally got the chance to shadow a nurse. But that was on Friday. Before that I went to my placement and my mentor was not there so I busied myself with cleaning and tidying the tables with crayon marks on them. On Friday, it was very interesting. We had to ask the kids to help us make Thank You! cards for an organization that donated books for the kids. It was amazing what some kids made. It was art. After that, Sonia asked one of the nurses if I could shadow her. Her name was Diane and she was very nice. We talked about her job, what education is required and how long you have to be in school. I walked with her and she gave this girl asthma medication which helps her breathe better. She also gave this six month old her first flu shot. It was cute. I found out that babies get their shots on their thighs where their biggest muscles are.

Journal Entry 7 -- Faith Fordjour

Journal Entry 5 - Viviana Sanchez

I interviewed my mentor Fay this week adn I found out some interesting things about her. I found out that she went to Lehman College for her undergraduate and for her graduate she went to Hunter College. During her undergraduate years, seh participated in different types of internships about social work. But it was her last internship that really incluenced her career decision. The last internship was on HIV prevention. This is how she decided to make her career all about HIV prevention. I feel like I know a lot more about her now.

Journal Entry 5 - Viviana Sanchez

Journal Entry 5 - Zaire Smalls

This week at my site, I went over what is a Mental Helath Assessment is and why social workers have to do them. Mental Health Assessments are done to determine the status of the patient before, during and after tereatment and whether a person needs teratment or counselling and a diagnosis if neccessary. It's a series of about 15-20 questions and you are given it if you are referred to a social worker by your doctor.

Journal Entry 5 - Zaire Smalls