Hi there,
Quick update to say that all is well, but I am pretty exhausted everyday from the schedules we are maintaining. We are working particularly long shifts at the moment to make sure we've got all our bases covered at the start of the deployment. The result though is that after an 11 hour night shift, a workout and then lots of running around meeting people and planning events and visiting units and volunteering I am barely functioning!
That being said though, there's lots of wonderful stuff going on. The other day I visited the Warrior Restoration Center which is another equivalent of Combat Stress. I recently found out there IS a combat stress/therapy dog on base known as Maj Eden. She was a bombing sniffing dog who loved food more than the smell of chemicals so she didn't make the cut as a working dog. Unfortunately she's out on mission at the moment, but lots of plans to partner with her and her handler when they return.
I also went over to the CASF the other day, the unit that runs the MedEvac missions. A friend of mine who I worked with at the CASF on my last deployment is actually back in theater! So I got to catch up with her and get an update on how to get back on board with the MedEvacs.
And finally, this morning I was back over at the Korean Hospital. I wanted to follow up on a story I wrote last Wednesday about a girl who had been seperated from her family who was holding her medical paperwork. She DID come back this week and was seen by the OBGYN. Even better news was that her diagnosis came back far more positive than originally thought. More than anything I was just so pleased and relieved to see her.
I am slowly starting to learn Dhari and can now have a very basic conversation. I'm also learning really random words in Dhari from working at a hospital... glucose, diabetes, does this hurt? Yep, I've got really great chat at the moment :-)
Perhaps most exciting of all, plans are really coming together to run a women's empowerment program through the hospital. Are primary challenges at the moment are that is needs to be extremely subtle so as not to affect the reputation of the hospital. Equally as challenging is the resistance expressed by the women themselves. However, we may have found a way to account for these conditions. Most certainly more to follow!
Quick update to say that all is well, but I am pretty exhausted everyday from the schedules we are maintaining. We are working particularly long shifts at the moment to make sure we've got all our bases covered at the start of the deployment. The result though is that after an 11 hour night shift, a workout and then lots of running around meeting people and planning events and visiting units and volunteering I am barely functioning!
That being said though, there's lots of wonderful stuff going on. The other day I visited the Warrior Restoration Center which is another equivalent of Combat Stress. I recently found out there IS a combat stress/therapy dog on base known as Maj Eden. She was a bombing sniffing dog who loved food more than the smell of chemicals so she didn't make the cut as a working dog. Unfortunately she's out on mission at the moment, but lots of plans to partner with her and her handler when they return.
I also went over to the CASF the other day, the unit that runs the MedEvac missions. A friend of mine who I worked with at the CASF on my last deployment is actually back in theater! So I got to catch up with her and get an update on how to get back on board with the MedEvacs.
And finally, this morning I was back over at the Korean Hospital. I wanted to follow up on a story I wrote last Wednesday about a girl who had been seperated from her family who was holding her medical paperwork. She DID come back this week and was seen by the OBGYN. Even better news was that her diagnosis came back far more positive than originally thought. More than anything I was just so pleased and relieved to see her.
I am slowly starting to learn Dhari and can now have a very basic conversation. I'm also learning really random words in Dhari from working at a hospital... glucose, diabetes, does this hurt? Yep, I've got really great chat at the moment :-)
Perhaps most exciting of all, plans are really coming together to run a women's empowerment program through the hospital. Are primary challenges at the moment are that is needs to be extremely subtle so as not to affect the reputation of the hospital. Equally as challenging is the resistance expressed by the women themselves. However, we may have found a way to account for these conditions. Most certainly more to follow!
No comments:
Post a Comment