I worked as an EMT for 2 years at Elite ambulance. I obtained my certification through the Hammond Area Career Center during my senior year of high school. It was a great opportunity at a fraction of the cost that I could not pass up; I gained some valuable clinical experience.

Some of my duties regarding patient care are as follows: monitoring vitals, lifting and transferring patients, administering medications, relaying patient information to receiving facilities, conducting physical and mental patient assessments, and prioritizing medical care.

Some of my other duties are as follows: completing patient paperwork for receiving facilities, conducting rig checks, refilling oxygen tanks, attending continued educations classes, organizing paperwork for proper billing, and re-certifying in all expired certifications.

Working for a private company is a bit different than working for a fire department. We mostly conducted hospital transfers, hospital discharges, scheduled visits to dialysis or wound care, transfers to hospice, and sometimes even doctor appointments for immobile patients. Although the job can sometimes feel like a routine, we also did standby for the Gary Fire Department going on emeregency calls and even sent crews to mass casualty incidents such as hurricane Harvey.

I volunteered at a Golden Living Nursing Home for hospice patients. I was a volunteer for Asera Care for approximately 10 months. I was introduced to this experience through a required assignment in my Aging and Society course my sophomore year of college. I decided to continue my involvement even after obtaining all of the requirements because it was something I enjoyed doing.

My duties were fairly simple but impactful to the patient and their families. I accompanied patients in the nursing home that are there for hospice care. I sat and talked with them, went to activities held by the nursing home such as bingo or an exercise class, we colored or put together puzzles, and I even took down their requests of things they may have wanted/needed. Asera Care is an extension from the nursing home to help keep the patients comfortable. If they need new bed pads, pillows, or even have a complaint of care from the nursing home, Asera Care will send items or investigate what is going on at the nursing home. I was also there to keep tabs on the patients mental status. If the patient was becoming forgetful or hostile or depressed, I was obligated to let my supervisors know.

I really enjoyed spending time with the patients because I really got to know who they are and what their life has consisted of. Once that relationship is formed, they feel like they have another friend that comes to visit when family can't make it or if they don't have any remaining family members left. My job helped keep the patients involved in social interaction which is vital to our lives as we are social beings.

I was as intern at IUPUI and St. Vincent through the Life and Health Sciences Internship Program (LHSI) as a data analyst. This particular research was geared towards palliative care in the event of a stroke. Palliative care is focused on optimizing quality of care and mitigating suffering among those with serious illness.

In this internship, I learned how to navigate through EHR's, decipher physician notes, and how to think just like my research team to not throw off any Kappa statistics. This allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of my duties as a healthcare professional. I was not learning only my own responsibilities, but my colleagues as well. I was solely collecting quantitative and qualitative data to determine a conclusion based on the study, in this instance, goals of care conversations.

This position was so fulfulling and was my first long-term care position with residents I would interact with on a daily basis. I was responsible for implementing life enrichment activities. Not only was I supposed to lead these activities, but make it engaging and beneficial for the residents. My job was their home, my sole purpose was to make it comfortable, engaging, and beneficial to their health.

Some activities we provided were bingo, nail spa, exercise class, snack carts, trivia games, music, bible study, one on one interactions, etc. Whatever the residents wanted we tried to make accommodations. The resident always came first. Sometimes it could be tricky. One resident may be loving the activity while another may be having the worst time. Even in group activities, it was important to make every resident happy. This taught me alot about social cues and managing a group of people. Patience and good communication skills were essential.

Overall, I had gotten to know my residents very well and deepened relationships with them and I strived to keep them active mentally and physically. I enjoyed spending one on one time with them as it deepened our bond, and gave them the attention and happiness they so rightfully deserved.