Hi everybody! I am Arianna and I am interning in Public Health with the Rodham Institute at Georgetown University, DC, and this is the end of my second week here. Last Sunday after I posted my blog for the first week, I went to the MedStar Hospital Cardiology Unit with my mentor’s husband, Adrian, who works there. I got to know the unit, tour it a bit, and talk to some nurses on shift. It was not the best night to visit, the third floor was under staffed and there were difficult patients assigned to each nurse so everyone was busy, but the nurses were extremely nice and welcoming to my visit. I got to see first-hand a bit of the reality inside hospitals, and I learned more about the way the different specialties are structured.
On Monday, I worked from my mentor Kristina’s home on my Pintern Project (assigned to me by my mentor Tracie) and the Rodham Institute’s social medias. We also reviewed the upcoming Rodham Website to make sure everything was in order. While doing this, I found out that the Institute did not have a clear image of its logo, and that getting it fixed would cost $400 from an artist. Since every picture of it was blurry and pixelated, I immediately offered to make a clear image of the logo, so I spent the next 3 hours tracing it very carefully on a free app on my phone, and by the end of the day the Rodham Institute had a marketable picture of its logo again.
My team at Food & Friends
On Tuesday I went to the Food & Friends organization with my mentors Kristina and Tracie to help packing food orders for those in need in the DMV area. This was especially impactful for me because I got to know about this amazing organization that delivers doctor-prescribed orders of food to those suffering from HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening illnesses. They deliver to people all over DC, Maryland, and Virginia, and serve thousands of clients with different diets and restrictions. Seeing the immense amount of bags that were going out of the facility opened my eyes. Each bag was going to a different person, every day, struggling to feed themselves.
At the ADA offices in Virginia
On Wednesday I was scheduled to be with Dr. Gigi at her work, shadowing her and interacting with patients with her team. On this day, we only saw two patients and were let out at 12pm like last time. The first patient we saw is an award-winning author who is preparing for hiking mountains in Colorado, and the second one was an older woman whose daughter was on the phone with her. The first patient was extremely open to chat with us, and by the end of it, we all left the room with a great sense of accomplishment. The second patient was visibly spooked when we first walked in the room, she said she was told there would only be one student with her, but after offering our apologies and giving her the choice to have only Raed in the room with her while Dr. Gigi arrived, she allowed us to stay in the room. She was not as animated nor talkative as the first patient, and her daughter’s impatience grew as the visit went on. This extreme contrast made me remember to stay professional at all times, since not every patient will have the same positive attitude towards you in healthcare, and that “each person is a different world”. After Dr. Gigi dismissed us, my mentor Kristina took me to the American Diabetes Association office in Virginia, where we would pick up information materials to hand out of Saturday. When we got there, a director for the association showed us around the ADA’s offices in the building and talked to us about his work and the association’s work.
On Thursday I was invited to attend two zoom meetings about a blood pressure project, one with a cardiologist and professor called Dr. Katz, Kristina, and another high school volunteer, and the other one with Dr. Gigi and a number of other doctors and non-profit organizations’ members. Thanks to these, I got to know more about projects and efforts in the community for achieving health equity, and challenges faced by organizations trying to help. After that, I worked on my Pintern project and stayed home because it was raining.
On Friday I toured The Milken Institute School of Public Health of the George Washington University, which taught me about the school, such as student life and available resources, and the GW University in general. After that, I walked around Downtown, went into some stores, and met up with my mentor Kristina and her husband, who then took me home.
Our half of the table we shared with Dr. Katz
On Saturday, Kristina, the other high school volunteer, and I set up a table at a community health event in which we would be handing out information from partners of the Rodham Institute about Alzheimers, diabetes, cancer screenings, etc. While Dr. Katz and Dr. Gigi’s team offered free blood pressure readings to anyone interested. I took over the task of informing the people that came up to our table about the information available, handed them packets of information, and re-stocking whenever we would run out of a certain displayed item. What amazed me the most about this experience was witnessing the amount of people who were genuinely interested in the informational packets we had, and who were willing to follow whatever suggestion they were given to take the best care of their health, which was awesome to see.
Volunteering for Colgate
And lastly, today Sunday, Kristina, the other high school volunteer, and I went to the DC BBQ festival to volunteer for Colgate. There, I was responsible for offering free dental screenings for kids 12 and under, guiding them through filling out a consent form, and directing them inside the van. I was also able to briefly watch a pediatric dental screening, which was really cool. And now the rest of my day will be spent on my project.
Thank you so much for reading! I will see you all next time!
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