A Friendship That Lasts...

I love how two friends can spend months and months apart and still be able to talk like it was the first day of their friendship! I just got off the phone with my beautiful, hilarious, adventurous and amazing friend, Jen, who has been living in Sudan these past nine months. She and another woman, Liz, are teaching and starting a school for children which someday will become a self-sufficient organization run by local people. So tonight, we were able to actually speak on the phone (which I have learned is such a blessing) because she is in the states for about ten days. Oh how nice that conversation was, it was as if she had never left the U.S. and as if we were still giggly freshman and sophomores at the University of Minnesota! (Okay, so we’re still giggly girls, we can’t help it!) I am constantly amazed by how the Lord blesses friendships even when people are so far away from each other.

One of my other good friends, Gillian, once equated friendships that are rooted in Christ to an old, oak tree. She stated that when looking at an ancient oak tree there are many, many branches that span and have new branches that sprout every year. But they all run back into a sturdy trunk that has a root system hundreds of feet wide and hundreds of feet long. And that is how friendships, which are rooted in something so much sturdier and solid than any thing earthly, last when rooted in the Lord. No matter how far or how wide the distance is between friends, we all have the amazing, beautiful connection of the Lord; and that is what counts! We may be in different places and be growing in different directions yet we always come back to the Lord, and he is our eternal bond. When speaking to Jen tonight, tears of joy were brought to my eyes because I was reminded of this connection. A blessing that can only come from the Lord and His amazing, unfathomable, unstoppable and unending love! And that is a love that lasts and brings friends together in any point of their life.

"Eggplant! Get your eggplant!"

Oh to have a real weekend! That is what I experienced this past weekend and it was absolutely spectacular. See, when I began my job in the “real world of nursing”, I did not realize that I would be giving up every other weekend so I could work at the hospital. It was an adjustment that I did not enjoy nor like in my life. Now that I have started my new job I have rediscovered what it is like to have weekends off, and I love it! But even with my weekends off, I have been so busy that I really haven’t had time to relax nor enjoy one of my favorite things about Madison. (I’m talking about the farmer’s market!) So this weekend I enjoyed a beautiful, warm fall day “full” of relaxing, laughing and catching up with friends.

I had forgotten what wonderful treats are present at the farmer’s market, I was able to get three big, beautiful eggplants for only $3.00! At the grocery store those cost about the same but for only one, and these are locally grown! Also, like I have mentioned before, fall is one of the best times for produce and especially bell peppers! See, I love bell peppers, especially the red ones (just ask my mom, she always bought them for when I came home to Duluth) and this week I was able to load up on them. Both of these ingredients were the start of my eggplant almond enchiladas, which I am currently thoroughly enjoying! As I sipped my coffee, ate a cranberry scone and sat on the capitol lawn, I realized how thankful I am to have a day where I can slow down and just enjoy life.

My relaxing day at the farmer’s market (and picking up nummy recipes at the Food For Thought Festival) was topped off by an amazing evening on the terrace visiting with friends and listening to some stories that made me laugh so hard, if I were drinking milk it would have come out of my nose! It was a night that made me feel happy, joyful and content that Madison is slowly becoming home to me. Just a note though, even though I “have seen the error of my ways” (not my quote!), I will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be a Minnesotan, which is the best state on earth!

Ahhh... Health Insurance

So, I found this commercial on another blog out there in the wide world of blogs and it is quite funny! Maybe it's just that I work in healthcare and that I deal with health insurances everyday, but this Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota commercial is hilarious! No further ado..... click the link!


Funny Health Insurance

Spin Me Round

So it has been only three days since I started at Access Community Health Centers and I believe that my head has finally stopped spinning. These past few days have been a whirlwind tour of how to use EPIC (healthcare software), triaging phone calls, making medication refills and so much more. On Friday, I was talking to one of the nurses that I work with about how to learn all the information about services and programs; her advice...
"Learn as you go!" So in that spirit, here is a small glimpse of what I’ve been able to process so far!

1) Pharmaceutical Reps are your best friend and the people that will drive you crazy as well. On the one hand, pharmaceutical companies are wonderful because they give us samples of their brand name medications that we can give to patients for free. We give these samples when a patient can’t afford the med or if they are waiting for their prescription to come in through mail. There also is a Prescription Assistance Program (PAP) which allows people to get medication at a very large discount, which really helps when treating chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and depression.
They will drive you crazy when they drop off samples and then tell you that this will be the last set of samples that we will be given. For example, this week we were given the last of the samples of Zoloft (an anti-depressant) because “Zolofts goin’ generic!” This now means that the patients who take this med will no longer be able to use samples, nor will they be able to get this medication through the PAP program. So, that means we will need to switch all of those patients to a new medication which creates a lot of work for the doctors and nurses. Also they will drive you crazy when their idea of a “sample supply” is one packet of an antibiotic, which wouldn’t even begin to treat any infection.

2) Any “simple, straight forward” phone call, will never stay that way. Inevitably any phone call you make that only involves one task on my end will turn into a million tasks or questions from the patient. Which is fine, but it’s good to have the mind set that the phone call is going to be more involved than you expect.

3) Patients will see you, the nurse, as the one who is supposed to know “everything” and will ask you any question. This means, that I have been “flying by the seat of my pants” and asking a lot of questions of my fellow nurses and providers. Which is awesome, but I realized instantly that I have a lot to learn and I probably will never have enough knowledge in my brain!


So this is just a smidgen of what I have been able to process in these past few days. And I am sure this week, and the many following this, will leave my head spinning and I will have much more learn!

"Jump In"

“It’s time to jump in.” That’s probably the best phrase to describe how my first day at Access Community Health Centers went. For those of you who don’t know (or just are confused), over the summer I was hired at a non-profit health clinic called Access Community Health Center. This organization was created to serve the uninsured or underinsured population in Madison. In order to qualify your income must be two-times below the federal poverty limit, their goal is to improve the health and lives of people who encounter barriers to health care. When in school, I volunteered at free clinics and my eyes were opened to this population and the need that is present. So when this job offer came (which was all God, at first I didn’t even get the job) I decided to take and see what happens!
And today was my first day, which I thought would be a boring “HR” day, but turned into a crash course in how to be a triage nurse. I, myself, didn’t take any calls but the work load was so heavy that Tracy (my charge nurse I will work with) and I had to take calls, walk-ins and put out small fires around the clinic. Then the bombshell dropped.....
“Well, now that you’ve seen kind of how things work, well let you listen in and then you can try taking calls next week.”
What! Next week! I don’t even know where the bathrooms are located! (Okay I’m being dramatic, it’s not that bad!) Nothing in nursing is that easy or simple, but I know that I will be able to ask lots of questions and I will be able to make it through. I know that the best way to learn is to “just jump in” and it will all be okay!