This is my LIFE

Thursday - Cabrini Clinic

7:00 am I wake up to Rocket Man after a night of tossing and turning due partly to the excitement of my first day of work and the other to a bad mattress. I was up and in the shower by 7:30 read to leave by 20 to 9:00am. The clinic is only 5 blocks from my house and if you don't already know what I have committed to as a MVC, I committed to a life of "simple living". Hence, if I am to practice simple living it is only logical to walk to work. However, if any of you know me at all you know that I don't like to walk. Hell, I lived across the street from my college campus and I would still drive. So, far I have not been tempted to drive to work but we will see how the next couple of weeks go.

I don't know if I have mentioned the heat and humidity that is experienced here in Detroit, MI but it is HOT and STICKY. I thought I had it bad in MN, no no no no, I was spoiled there it is simply miserable here and part of simple living is no AC - I really like it here, I really like it here... (I have to keep telling myself this, especially when I am sweating like a pig). The one good thing is that Cabrini has AC and most of my time will be spent there. I arrived at the clinic 9:00 am to meet with Teresa the social worker to get trained in. The most important part of my training today was becoming familiar with the registration process of the patients. Part of it is done on the computer where I enter the patients name, why they have come to the clinic, and if any of there information has changed. Then I go and grab their chart off the shelf and either stamp it for the doctor or put the date and bring it back to the pharmacy for a refill. I have to be careful though and make sure that all the files stay in the order the patients came in the clinic, because it is all first come first serve.

Thursdays there are 2 clinics the afternoon clinic is from 1-5 and the evening clinic is from 5-8. Registration is from noon - 1 and then again from 5-6. However people start coming into the clinic to register at least 2 hrs before hand. For the first clinic we served 32 patients which was a lot; we had a nurse practitioner called in sick. We took in 4 new patients which is also a lot in one day. One of the new patients came in with leukemia and had not seen the doctor in three months. All she wanted to know is what stage she was in and to leave everything up to Jesus. Some would say that she has a great deal of magical thinking however in our Mercy Orientation they warned us that we would truly see God in the poor. They put everything in His hands because they have nothing else; they get out of bed for God. It was inspiring and saddening at the same time. There was another man that was homeless that came into our clinic for the first time. This is my first encounter with a homeless person face to face. I have not been exposed to this population and it made me think twice about the things that I have and how blessed I am to be where I am today.

From 10:30 to 1:00 the clinic was buzzing on my end of care. I was runnin charts all over the place getting the proper info from people and updating info all at the same time. My first registration went really well I had everyone in order with the proper stamp. It doesn't seem like I am doing much but it was very exciting. At the end of my day I was cleaning up and looking for the recycling, but didn't find any. So I approached Sister Mary Ellen and found out that the clinic doesn't recycle and that the entire city of Detroit. I was shocked. I decided to undertake the job of helping the clinic to become greener. Out side of just the clinic I have made some contacts and am looking into helping Detroit start a recycling program.

After work my community and I went out on a tour of Detroit with our support person Mike. Mike showed us the rest of the city that we haven't seen (I'm sure Sister Mary Claire would disagree with the previous statement). After our quick tour Mike took us to a great Mexican restaurant that was pretty inexpensive. We had a great meal and conversation learning about Mike and his family and exchanging stories of our experience and lives. Mike and I started talking about his career with the juveniles of Detroit. I shared my experience with Alvin and his path to juvenile court and expressed my interest in the field. What developed out of our conversation is the potential of me leading an after school group session once a week. I am not sure what that all entails but I am excited about it.

Friday Clinic Organization -

Fridays are catch up days and preparing for the next week. I need to refile all of the charts that were pulled for Thursday's clinic. It was a fairly slow day until Teresa showed me the three large tall cabinets full of the most random items I have ever seen. I was given the exciting job of organizing all of the cabinets. I felt as if I was back in the Poli Sci/Soci Department filing all the 50 or so applications for the sociology professorship that the department hired at the end of last semester; that was a crazy mess believe me. I was able to make some head way on 2 shelves of one cabinet so I have a long road ahead of me.

Friday night the roomies and I were able to catch some down time to hang out together. We played the game of life MVC version which presents a volunteer path option. It was really fun and good to just hang out together.

Saturday - Starting with Church; Ending with Freakshow

Saturday morning we were headed out to Farmington Hills for the Sisters of Mercy Jubilee Celebration. This event recognizes sisters that have been a Sister of Mercy for 25 yrs (silver), 50 yrs (golden), 60 yrs (diamond), and 70 yrs (diamond). There was even a Sister that was celebrating her 80th year of being a Sister of Mercy. This celebration reminded me of my gerontology class where we read a book based on the nuns and alzheimers. I felt that these nuns held a lot of the same qualities the nuns in Dr. Snowdons study did. If you would like to learn more about this study click on this link
http://www.mc.uky.edu/nunnet/

It was Sister Mary Ellen's (my supervisor at Cabrini) 50th Jubilee celebration and all of my community and myself went out to support her along with other Sisters we have met throughout the last 2 weeks. After the 11:00 am mass we had lunch with Sister Mary Ellen and her family and friends it was a great food and conversation however we didn't stay long because our day was full of different events.

D.O.T.S - Dancin on the Street

We went to a local art festival that is called the Heidelberg Project. This project revolves around abandon houses in Detroit (which there is a large amount of) and turning them into works of art. For more info click on this link http://www.heidelberg.org/
The pictures explain themselves After experiencing D.O.T.S we headed home and crashed for the next 3 hours. With the combination of bad matresses, all of the parties we have been invited to, and the miserable hot weather we were basically walking zombies. Around 8 we awoke from our slumbers had dinner and were out to the next event, called the "Bizarre Bizarre". The first thin I saw as we walked into the venue was a women hanging from her piercing. She had two on her thighs two from her back making it look like she was sitting in the air; it was crazy. The rest of the night I was surrounded by local artists advertising, exposing, and selling their art. However there was a very dark undertone to this type of art; it had a very underground feel. We saw live graffiti being done a sweet fashion show done by one of my roommates co-workers, and freak show paintings that included "Margot the Maggot Girl". It was a great experience in doses and I am always up for new things so I definately enjoyed myself.