9/31/2016
September was a very busy month with a lot of challenging
classwork and studying for exams. I felt particularly challenged by this last
block, which covered an enormous amount of material, and I dedicated a large
amount of time to studying. I also had to take some time away for a family medical emergency which is unfortunately still unfolding.
However, I was able to volunteer some time in September- I’ve
been working with the community public health organization, the New Orleans
Harm Reduction Network for over a year, and I put in two four hour days of time
with them this month. NOHRN is an organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS,
Hepatitis, and opiate overdose prevention, and utilizes the principles of harm
reduction to deliver resources to an underserved and often isolated
patient/client population. These resources include clean syringes, naloxone,
HIV and HCV testing, as well as education and referral to further resources.
With Dr. Kantor of the New Orleans Health Department authorizing a standing
order for the organization to provide naloxone, we’ve been distributing the
life saving opioid reversal medication to chronic users of opiates.
On behalf of the NOHRN, I also provided an overdose
recognition, prevention and treatment workshop for members of a soup kitchen
organization in New Orleans; Community Kitchen. Because Community Kitchen often
distributes food in areas with high densities of IV drug users, members have
often been the first to notice and call emergency services for people who have
overdosed. Given this proximity, they reached out to NOHRN and asked for us
to provide a workshop for soup kitchen volunteers and other interested parties.
Other volunteers with NOHRN and I spent about 2 hours discussing signs and symptoms of opioid overdose, as well as emergency first aid in those situations.
I was only able to join Dr. Charles Zhang on his Street
Medicine walks one night this month, but we had several meaningful encounters
with homeless patients who live in the area around the French Quarter. I distributed
hygiene supplies and discussed infection prevention through the use of clean
socks with one fellow who had a small abscess on his foot, and the doctor
provided him with some antibiotic cream. We were out on the street walk for
about 4 hours.
Lastly, I’m extremely excited to discuss a project I just
started working on!
I’ve been an instructor at the Tulane University Trauma
Education Institute for some time, and we teach a semester long EMT class twice
a year. I’ve been inspired by the graduate Med-Pharm student involvement at Sci
High, and so I spoke with the principal (Ms. Chana Benenson) and the careers
counselor (Ms. Jennifer Naum) about increasing access for Sci High seniors who
are interested in careers in medicine, nursing, public health, to get involved
with EMS education. They were excited about the prospect, and now I’m working
on writing grant proposals to build a scholarship program for students to get
into the course at no cost to them.
Total volunteering in September: 14 hours.
