Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler

February Service: 4 hours

Total Service: 4 hours

Another month has come and gone leaving us closer to graduation day! This past month we completed the reproductive module and the neurology module. Both were very interesting, but I was able to use the knowledge on the treatment of seizures at work being as I work on a neuro step down unit. On this unit we have a lot of patients who are being observed for seizure activity on EEGs while undergoing stressors like sleep deprivation to induce seizure activity that can be recorded on the EEG. It was nice to be able to have a knowledgeable conversation with the nurses about these patients' treatment plans thanks to what I've learned in the neurology module. We are on the brink of Mardi Gras break, and I am very excited to have a little bit of time off to enjoy Mardi Gras. Rather than stay in the New Orleans area for the break, I will be traveling back to my home area of Louisiana for traditional Courir de Mardi Gras. This is an old Cajun tradition where the towns people will go from house to house begging for ingredients to make a community gumbo. The highlight of this tradition is watching the towns people try to catch a live chicken with nothing but their bare hands and intellect. Once all of the ingredients are gathered, everyone will go to the middle of town and have a fais do-do. This event will be a well-deserved break from a very busy month. Along with completing two modules in school, I was also able to get some volunteer hours in. I went to a local public library once every week this month for an hour with another student in the program to read with children during story time. This was such a rewarding experience because I remember having a similar experience at my local library as a child and it was nice to be the position of the person reading knowing that I looked up to the adult reading to me as a kid. I loved reading as a child, and I hope that I got to spark the same love for reading into a new generation. This is definitely service that I want to continue throughout the semester! Another type of service that I am interested in doing before the semester is over is creating a pen pal with a local nursing home resident. I have seen others do this type of thing on the internet, but it is usually only for holidays. I would want this to be a pretty frequent exchange of letters with my pen pal because I know that most of the individuals in nursing homes get very lonely and I think it could be good for them to have something like a letter every week to look forward to. I have to figure out the logistics of this type of service though. I will keep the blog updated as I learn more throughout the next month!