Wonderful. Amazing. Happy.

          It has been an amazing first couple of weeks here at Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH). I have been making great progress at my morning job in the PR and photography department. When I first arrived, Kelley, the photographer here, would bring me along to her shoots and have me take some photos for practice. Then she started having me take photos with her and we would look at both when choosing the final shot to be used. Then, just the other day, we walked over to the studio and as we arrived, she turned to me and told me my photos have been looking great and she trusts that I know what to do now, and then walked off to get some other work done. It felt great, setting up the studio myself, working with the client (a doctor), and being completely in charge of the outcome of the shoot. I am ecstatic about the experience I am gaining and the portfolio of high caliber photographs I am building.
          My afternoon job is going wonderfully as well. Because most of the kids in the ITU are long term patients, I have become very comfortable around them and am beginning to understand each child’s individual personality. All of the long term kids recognize me now and it lights up my day to see the smiles on their faces as I walk in the room. It’s an amazing thing to see the power of touch and smiles and play here and I hope to remember this outside of AmeriCorps. Sometimes a smile and a hug is all we need.
          Every Friday the hospital provides a wonderful catered lunch and educational activity for us to learn more about each other and the hospital. On our first Friday we were given a tour of the helicopter pad and helicopter equipment the hospital uses to transport patients. The rooftop helipad provides an amazing view of Little Rock and the Capital building which is right across the street!



fun with the camera settings

Then, this past Friday, my team and I got a tour of the hospitals state of the art PULSE (Pediatric Understanding & Learning through Simulation Education) Center. The center is a separate building whose interior in modeled exactly after that of the hospitals, but completely equipped with dummies, cameras, and secret classrooms. And not just any dummies, these dummies have heart beats, veins, and blood (fake blood) running through their bodies as well as blinking eyes and the potential to have seizures, heart attacks, and an array of other symptoms! I’m not going to lies, it was extremely creepy walking through the center, but amazing to know that doctors can get training in such a remarkable and high tech environment.
          Of course living in the heart of Little Rock wouldn’t be complete without weekend excursions to find what the city has to offer. On our first weekend here (01/14) we hiked one of the highest mountains in Arkansas, Pinnacle Mountain. It was a beautiful clear day and we had a gorgeous view of the Arkansas River, Little Rock, and all of the surrounding area. 

at the top of Pinnacle

The following weekend (01/21) my team traveled to Lake Ouachita to visit another AmeriCorps team that is working there and take the lakes famous Bald Eagle Tours. The park is a bald eagle sanctuary where people are able to take boats out onto the water and look for bald eagles nesting in the trees. We saw three!



the whole team on the lake!

Today we walked across the longest pedestrian and bicycle bridge (build for the purpose) in the world, Little Rocks Big Dam Bridge… yup that’s the real name!

Every weekend we have been going into downtown for shopping and other activities but have yet to see more than about 10 people in the town, even on a Saturday night, so we are thinking we must just not have found the popular downtown spots yet. I’ll let you know when we find the life of the city!



pig fountain...



It’s Been Too Long

the whole team on our last day of work

January 10, 2012

          Oh the difficulties of starting a routine. I wish it was easy to just sit down every day, or even once a week, and write a little blog entry. But these simplest activities escape me in my busy AmeriCorps life. I am very sorry I haven’t written in so long, especially because I have so much to tell you! So with that little thought and apology, I will begin.
          As the days grew colder and the snow began to fall in Missouri, our team finished up our work and began preparations to return to Denver and, ultimately, home for the holidays. We far surpassed the Parks expectation of how much of the trail we would finish and were proud to leave almost 4 miles of trail completed. On our final day, we were invited to a lunch with our site sponsor (John), our project sponsor (Mama Sue), and the head of the entire St. Louis County Parks. We were provided with an ‘authentic’ St. Louis meal complete with frozen custard for dessert. On Wednesday, December 14th, we piled into a car at 7:30 am and headed back to Denver, proud of our work, and excited to return to friends and family.

The top 10 things this project has taught me to appreciate more:

1. Indoor showers
2. Indoor toilets
3. Private space
4. Quiet time
5. Dishwashers
6. Sunshine
7. Positive attitudes
8. Hard work
9. Natures natural beauty
10. Family

          Ahhhh, the holidays. I arrived home on December 19th and got to work for AmeriCorps immediately. As you may or may not know, it is required of us to complete 80 individual service hours by the end of the program. These are often difficult to complete because they must be done on your own time and we are working all day every weekday. For this reason, I chose to schedule several hours of service work during my holiday break; a nice idea, but silly considering the hectic time of year. In the end, Christmas day ended op coming all too fast but with a very much needed time of rest and peace. Following Christmas day I was able to spend much time with my family and friends, but never quite enough because I was gone on a plane New Years Day. Happy 2012 Everyone!

          As we were to leave Denver for our next project the morning of the 6th, having just three days to debrief on our last project and brief and prepare for our next project provided one heck of a week. The morning of the 6th we left campus and headed to… Little Rock, Arkansas!!! And why, you may ask, because we are working at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital!
          On the evening of the 7th, my team and I arrived in Little Rock and viewed where we will be living and working for the next two months (we return to Denver March 2nd). We are provided three apartments, one for girls, one for guys, and one for our Team Leader (what a luxury!). The apartments are also conveniently located directly across the street from the main hospital building and within view of the Little Rock Capitol Building. Now, I know you must be wondering, what will I be doing in the hospital?! Each team member is assigned two shifts in different units or wards. From 8:30am to 12:30pm I will be assisting in the PR building working with the hospitals photographer. Then, from 1:00pm to 5:00pm I am working in the ITU (Infant-Toddler Unit) and the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). For the morning shift I will be working closely with the hospital photographer and may even be able to do some photography myself (doing portraits of doctors and patients, or special event photography). I will also spend a lot of time organizing, scanning, and archiving, photographs taken over its 100 years as a children’s hospital. Then, in the afternoon, I get to work closely with the 0 to 3 year olds, playing, rocking, and doing general nurse tasks for the hospital. All in all, I can already tell this is going to be one of the most amazing opportunities and experiences of my life. I am so thankful for the life I live everyday and hope I can continue to make a difference in the lives of my fellow Americans.