Wow, this week has been one of the best weeks of my life. At first when I arrived to NSLC I was kinda nervous and excited all at the same time. I wasn't sure what I was really getting myself into, but I sure was going to find out. This experience has taught me so much and has given me some amazing opportunities. I also met so many kind people that were always willing to talk to me and treated me kind even when I showed them my weird/crazy side. I got to stay in the dorms at American University and I had a roommate that I spent a lot of time with. Her name is Alice and from the start of the trip she was so kind and our personalities went together very well. Along with Alice I made many more friends all of which were also very sweet and kind. I enjoy meeting people that are interested in the same thing as me and who are also willing to have a conversation with me. No one was judgmental or rude which made the experience that much better.
Along with meeting a bunch of people there were also constant activities growing. I woke up usually at 7am and we went all the way till 10 pm and went to bed around 12. I guess you could say I'm kinda sleep deprived. Some of the activities in included a public health presentation, lectures, simulations, surgical rounds, leadership sessions and so much more. Everyone is assigned to TA groups and that is who you spend most of your time with during activities. For the public health presentation our TA group was split in half so there were about eight people per group. We had to create an awareness campaign/idea to solve a problem related to public health (the well being of the public as a whole). We got a couple hours to work on the project and on the second to last day got to present it to a group of students. Our topic was obesity and with a budget of 10,000 dollars we decided to make a farm/at home farming kit for a specific area in Mississippi. Apparently it was kinda like a contest and today (which was the last day) there was a presentation to wrap up the program and our group got first place. I was very suprized and proud that we were able to work together and accomplish a goal. It was interesting working with a group of people that all had different ideas, but I think that it was listening to each others ideas that helped us do well. Our TA group also got first place on a Tik Tok challenge (we got 2 boxes of donuts to share because we won twice).
Lectures included taking patient history, heart 101 (and a bypass surgery), epidemiology, diagnostic imaging, and careers in healthcare. I thought the lectures were fun because the leaders made it interactive, but my favorite part was when I was able to take what I learned in the lectures and do hands on simulations. One of my favorite simulations was called Clinical Diagnostics Simulation (CDS). The leaders acted like they had something wrong with them and my team and I were the doctors. We had to take their history, vitals, and talk to them in a way where they are able to speak about their issues. We even got to order tests and then tell the patient what we think they had. We had three patients total and we got one out of all three correct. That might not sound the best, but I learned a lot from it and also had so much fun while completing the tasks. We also learned about EMT and how to react if a disaster happened so the leaders set up another simulation to see how we would react. They put fake blood and cuts on themselves and pretended there was a really bad accident and we had to keep them alive. It was so chaotic yet so interesting and fun to see how people reacted in an emergency situation.
Some smaller hands on work we did included taking vitals of a patient (blood pressure, temperature, beats per minute, etc), suturing a pigs foot with different stitches, dissecting a cow eye and lamb heart, administering shots, inserting a breathing tube, laparoscopy, and putting a trauma patient into a c-collar. I really enjoyed the hands on part of it because I like holding what I am learning about with my hand. It helps if I can see what I am learning about and explore it on my own.
Not only did I learn more about the medical field and health, I learned more about myself as a leader. I was able to recognize how I come out in a group of people and how that can be both bad and good. Everyone did a personality test to see what they are most like and I got a koala. This might not make any since, but it practically was saying I am kind, gentle, easy going, and listen to what others want rather than what I want. I was very surprised at what everyone else got because there were a huge portion of koalas and I didn't realize how many people act very similar to me. On top of having this realization I found my areas of opportunity where I can grow. From this experience I have learned I need to know what I want and how to speak my mind when I have an opinion on a matter instead of letting other people constantly make decisions.
I have learned many other things about myself and plan on bringing them all with me home. I think that when I am home (on Kauai) I act a different way because I think that there is only a small amount of people. Sometimes I don't let my true self show because I am afraid of getting hurt, but I have learned that being yourself is okay and if anyone else says otherwise it is their downfall not mine. This whole trip has allowed me to discover what is truly out there. Living on a small island sometimes you can feel stuck like you have run out of options. But there is a whole world out there. If someone doesn't like me for who I am then I can find someone who loves me for myself. Saying goodbye today was hard for me, I guess I never realized how close you could become with someone in such a short amount of time. I may have cried because it was goodbye, but I know that it will not be the end. I could not have asked for a better experience, I am sad it is over but happy with everything that happened. It was hard to keep this short, but this is not even everything. BEST TRIP EVER! :)
(We also got to go on about five field trips and do some touristy things in DC. We went to the Smithsonian's, Georgetown, the Monuments at night, and did an adventure course at a college.)
