Getting started...

(Above Picture is of the Latino Coalition in Asheboro, NC- I really like the sign that they have on the door- "Together, we are more")

This week has been very busy. We got back into town around 2:30 in the morning on Monday. I was scheduled to be in the Hispanic Clinic at Moses Cone Family Practice at 8:30 Monday morning. So, after getting a few hours a sleep I headed over to clinic. I met Dr. Hale who will be my preceptor each Monday at the clinic. We saw patients all morning. All of the patients were Spanish speaking. I also presented each patient to Dr. Hale in Spanish. That was a new challenge for me. I loved the mix of patients that I saw: men, women, and children. The more I am exposed to Family Medicine, the more I love it!

I began working on my outreach project that I will be doing in the upcoming 3 weeks. I met with the Latino Coalition in Asheboro and learned more about the services that they offer there. We are going to partner together on this outreach project. They wrote a grant from Rite-Aid pharmacy headquarters. Rite-aid has agreed to supply first-aid kits that we can give to each of the migrant farm workers and also give to the farm owners to have in the field. They are also going to provide book bags and school supplies for 50-75 kindergartners who are part of migrant farm worker families. The Health Department has agreed to help us distribute these as they do the kindergarten physicals this summer. I am busy working on putting together information for the farm owners on heat stroke and exhaustion. I hope to do a quick review of first-aid that they can do in the field if they suspect heat exhaustion or stroke. I also hope to do some education with the farm workers themselves. I am also in the process of checking with different pharmacies and glucometer companies to see if anyone will donate blood glucose testing supplies for me to use for screenings at the farms. I am going to start trying to call the different farms next week to see if anyone will allow me to come out. I am curious to see the response I get from the farm owners.