Blizzard 2010

So...today is our 5th consecutive day of NO SCHOOL due to 2 snow storms back to back. The first storm was probably the biggest one that Winchester has had in a loooong time. It is the biggest one that I have seen, that's for sure. The accumulation near us was 30 inches of heavy, wet snow. The second storm was only about 5-6 inches, but was accompanied by high winds and gusts which drifted a lot of the snow onto roads and created blizzard conditions. So, I have pretty much been stuck at home with our new pup for the past week. My husband has been diligently shoveling our cars out over and over and also shoveling a deck and a portion of the back yard for the pup. Good thing I have him!

Because we haven't been able to get to school, the teachers and faculty have made a way for us to still get our lecture material either live or via iTunesU. My classes on Monday and Tuesday were recorded on Camtasia which is just a program that teachers record the audio of their lectures on and post on iTunesU. We can then download the audio and follow along on our slides. Yesterday, my ICARE course took place via Elluminate. This program was really interesting and worked pretty well. The teacher gave the lecture live while all of us students logged in from home (and I was in my PJs!). The lecture slides were also visible as the teacher went through them. We were able to ask questions as well either through a text box or via audio. It went pretty smoothly for the first time trying it out and I think my ICARE lecture today will also be held this way. I am happy that there is a way for us to keep up on the material for class without having to schedule make up classes or cut into our spring break time.

Hopefully tomorrow we will be back at class and I can actually SEE people again! That is definitely the weirdest part about this whole thing...I feel very isolated from the world. Things will be back to normal soon. Who knows how long this snow will be on the ground though! My guess is April...but hopefully we will get some really warm days that melt it before then :o)

Giving Back

Wow is it already February? This semester is in full swing now. I have already taken my first exam too and I am currently studying for my second one. Besides exams another big thing for me personally that came to fruition was the Jubilee Kitchen Health Fair. It was a health fair held at a local soup kitchen here in Winchester that I organized with the help of many other people. As pharmacists we are in a field of work that is often about directly interacting with patients, and by volunteering we not only benefit the people we serve but we also hone our patient interaction skills.

We had been planning this health fair since November and to see it finally happen was great! The health fair was a collaborative effort between our school's chapters of Rho Chi, APhA-ASP, and SVSHP. Our target population may have little, if any access to health care, so the few services and brochures that we did provide were greatly appreciated. Initially we were unsure of whether or not they would be receptive to us. We didn't wear our white coats, so that we would seem more friendly and approachable. That, and our smiling faces, and helpful volunteers aided us in attracting about 80 people. Our most popular stations were our blood pressure screenings and our free giveaway table. Although going to a doctor and getting a prescription may not be a viable option for all of the patients we saw, as pharmacists we don't have to just rely on drug recommendations. Our educations are also about recommending non-drug lifestyle changes. The smiles and words of gratitude we received were truly appreciated. It felt like one of those days where I was having a real positive impact on other people. I hope that even after I leave for my rotations this event will be held and made even better than it started out to be.