everybody needs somebody

We had a really good week at the health center this week.  I am getting much more comfortable doing my new job.  Robert is also starting to be able to see more and more patients.  We have a little system or two in place, which I am sure are subject to change next week but we are beginning to develop a little bit of a flow :)  Its nice. 

I do have some good stories from this week.  Some funny, some good, and some sad but encouraging.  Enjoy.

Thursday, Robert got an urgent call from the high school.  They have not been able to have a football team for several years.  Its so sad to me because sports were such a big part of my life growing up and in a lot of ways, they are completely inaccessible to these kids.  But, this year there will be a football team.  In classic Christ Health Center style, Robert got a call from the school on Thursday that the entire football team needed physicals to be able to  play their first game on Friday :)  So, the entire team shows up, and Robert called another physician friend, and they got the entire football team seen.  It was fun yesterday driving in to work because the kids wear uniforms to school, black pants and white polos, and yesterday mixed in, were a few football jerseys and black pants.  Change is in the air!!  I’ll have to get back to you to let you know how they did last night.  It almost doesn’t matter though.  I am just thrilled that they are developing their football program again.

Currently, we are still doing free pregnancy testing.  I had a young girl come in this week and her sister thought she needed a pregnancy test.  I started talking to the girl alone and found out that she has had as many sexual partners as she is old, that she had been treated two weeks prior to her visit with us for an STD in the ER, had had sex again since having her STD, and then she told Robert that more than half of the guys she had sex with “truly loved her.”  My heart broke for her.  We spent a lot of time with her and now Truth In Love is going to help us out with her.  She is actually excited about seeing them.  I am cautiously looking forward to see what changes happen in her life.

I also had a lady come in to see me this week that had a colostomy.  I won’t go in to too much detail because most people get grossed out by this sort of thing, but I good comparison would be to say that getting colostomy supplies is like trying to find a woman a good bathing suit.  Its hard!  She comes to me needing new supplies but she doesn’t know the size or kind of anything she is wearing.  So, I decide maybe I can call her supply company and see what she has been getting.  I asked asked her what their number is and she spouts of quickly “1-800-999-9999.”  So I go and I dial the number and I hear “Welcome to the singles hotline.  Are you looking . . . .” and I hang up.  So, I look at the number and dial it again, “Welcome to the singles hotline.  Are you looking . . . .”  At this point, I am starting to think this is funny because this little old lady just very quickly, without looking it up, gave me a singles hotline number.  So, I am thinking this lady is lonely and is hanging out on the singles hotline but I decided to give it another shot and ask her what the number was again.  And she says “1-888-999-9999″ (istead of 1-800 . . .).  So, I told her what she had done.  She just laughed.  I asked her if she was looking for a special friend :)

Also, this week, we had a dental sales rep, who had had people over over the weekend and had extra food left over.  He decided that he would bring lunch over to our parking lot.  It was so fun.  He set up chair and we sat outside and ate and people from the neighborhood just started showing up for the free food.  We just sat and talked.  Some people simply came and got food and left.  Others, sat and talked with us and told us what they needed and how much they appreciated the health center and dream center.  A GED class may come of that day from one lady’s expressed need.   I really enjoyed that.

Finally, we have hired two new people.  Lindsey Pimentel, who I wrote about a while ago, left to start school again so a huge hole was left that needed to be filled.  We hired two of our most faithful nurse volunteers, Karen and Sirena,  to job share a MA/nurse position.  I am so excited because I enjoy working with both of them.  They are completely different from each other but they both do such a good job.  I am excited about having them come be a part of our little growing team.

Finally, look at what I got to do this past weekend!  Could anything be more fun?  I got to spend time with some of my dearest old friends and meet some of their children for the very first time.  It was such a wonderful trip.

Much love my friends!