DAY 5 Special Report – Jaclyn Celaya

 

I am Jaclyn Celaya from Arizona, one of the student interns, today was a very special day for me because I got the opportunity to accompany Captain Paul Reed, Deputy Director of the MRC to Walter Reed Hospital  (not to mention it is the largest military medical center in the U.S)  to shadow his work as a Pediatrician. Captain Reed visits the hospital once every month to keep up with his clinical practice, as well as for his great love of the practice and patients.  The Morning started off by Captain Reed giving me a tour of the gigantic hospital which had many different departments for either inpatient or outpatient care. I even saw where the President himself goes for his visits!

The pediatric department where Captain Reed works was partially big with 14 Doctors seeing patients for the day. The six patients we saw today varied in age, the first child was a three year old boy who came for a checkup for school, this type of visit is very common. The next patient was a teenage girl at the age of fifteen who came for a sport physical where I learned that after one hits puberty the tendons stiffen and that is why it is very important to stretch properly. The best part of my day was seeing the babies that came in, they were adorable! Unfortunately, one of the babies that came in had an ear infection and a high fever but still managed to be smiling! One of the interesting scenarios was a family that had been exposed to toxic mold so at the moment there is no clear examination of what the baby might have but hopefully nothing will arise either. Overall, my morning visit at the Pediatric office with Captain Reed was fully fulfilling in both information and enjoyment and I am truly grateful for the great opportunity Captain Reed provided me.

 Day 5

It is hard to believe that the week has come to an end! Commander Denis’ comment on Monday has been very true – “Your week here will be like trying to drink out of a fire hose.” The staff of CVMRC Office has been amazing  - sharing stories, knowledge, advice, and opportunities. Today we reported out on our various projects.  Dr. Freeman (Alabama) project explored hospital evacuations for her project while Taylor Readnower (Kentucky) made suggestions on the use of social media by the MRC Office. Justin Joseph (Nevada) explored a way of looking at various MRC group activities from the standpoint of “return on investment.”  Dr. Clarke (Georgia) interviewed Physician Assistants who are involved in MRC units and the role they play in their local area.  Jaclyn Celeya (Arizona) worked with an MRC staff member to develop a survey that would allow units to better track the skills of their members. We were excited to have National HOSA staff listening in on the presentations.  The MRC staff made each of feel that we had made a contribution to the mission of the office and many of our projects will be ongoing.

                                             Taylor presents her project.

                                           Jaclyn presents her project.

At lunch Captain Tosatto allowed us to participate in a very important MRC Office ritual – lunch at the Taco Truck! A picture is worth a thousand words so …

After our trip to the Taco Truck we were treated to a presentation by Deb Nichols, MD, MPH from the Center for Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She presented very interesting information on Health Care Policy and how bills become law. She has many years of experience “on the hill” and gave an excellent presentation on the relationship between the Office of Health and Human Services (which resides in the Executive Branch) and the Legislative Branch. Her list of skills for success include: integrity, humility, flexibility, negotiation, psychology, comedy, theater, organization, communication, writing, speech writing. She stated that of all these skills you should consider integrity your “credit card.”

Our final day ended with a presentation of MRC coins and certificates by Captain Tosatto, Lieutenant. Hager and Ensign Draude. Our group thanked them for the tremendous effort they put into making sure we had an action packed week.

A close-up of our MRC coin.  

Please enjoy these additional pictures from the HOSA OSG July 2013 Interns!



 Former HOSA member!





Casey's Award on right!



Our tour guide at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences was Casey Reid, a former HOSA member and competitor in the EMT event at his high school in Cleveland, Ohio!!! He is still using the leadership skills he learned in HOSA as evidenced by his award for Service Member of the Year at the University!! He is also still using his EMT skills by serving in the Rockville Rescue Squad. He works as a Surgical Tech at the university in the cadaver lab and is planning to go to back to school for a Mortuary Science Degree.

The young man pictured with the HOSA OSG students above is Dalton Ribble, Intern in the Office of Senator Ted Scott (R-SC). He is a former HOSA student from South Carolina!! He gave us a wonderful tour of the Capitol and helped us navigate the tunnel system.

Natalie Torentinos (far left) from the office of Axela in DC arranged our meetings with two Senators and one Congressman. The Axela firm represents HOSA in Washington. She and her boss, George Sifakis also treated the HOSA OSG Interns to a wonderful dinner at the famous Monocle Restaurant near Capitol Hill.

 The HOSA OSG Interns at the US Capitol. Did we mention it was HOT?

The US Capitol Building Rotunda ceiling.

Captain Tosatto’s famous DC Night Monument Tour at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Marine Corp Silent Drill Team performance at the Iwo Jima Marine Corp Memorial – also a part of the “Captain Tosatto Monument Tour.”

We all learned how to negotiate the Metro!

We also learned that the Metro ride is a great place to catch a short nap as illustrated above by Justin!

Commander Denis' "Sniff Theory" will be very useful to all of in the future!

This is the building that houses the OSG MRC, along with several other offices of the Surgeon General. This is that place we reported to each day.

The biggest lesson we learned this week is this:

The people shown in the picture above are AWESOME!! From L-R ENS Trey Draude (JRCOSTEP Intern), LCDR Skip Payne, CAPT Rob Tosatto (Director), and CAPT Paul Reed (Deputy Director, Operations).

More AWESOME people! LT Katie Hager (center) who also worked diligently to make this a great experience for us!

Special thanks to Tracy, Grace and all of the other MRC personnel who worked with us and made us feel welcome!

Final analysis

(In God we trust. All others bring data. –

Dr. Deb Nichols)

       HOSA Internship ROI

                     Travel cost:   approx. $500 per intern

                     Food costs:    approx.  $300 per intern

                     Hotel costs:   approx. $700 per person

                     $1500 x 5 interns = $7500

                     ROI for Interns = Priceless

                     ROI for HOSA = Priceless

              ROI for MRC = We hope the MRC staff thinks 

                             that is also priceless!                   

                                               

Day 4

The HOSA interns had yet another exciting day in Washington, DC. We met at the DCVMRC headquarters in the morning, briefly working on our respective projects before leaving for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. USUHS is the nation’s federal health sciences university. Most students at this institution are either medical students or graduate nursing students. In exchange for receiving a free education, these students will serve as active duty officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Public Health Service. The interns were given a tour of the school, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that our tour guide was another HOSA alumnus! (If you’ve read the blog posts from the last three days, you’ll definitely notice a trend taking place.)

For more information regarding USUHS opportunities, go to http://www.usuhs.edu/



 
After USUHS, we traveled back to Rockville and quickly grabbed lunch at Chipotle before heading back to the MRC offices. The interns took advantage of an ice cream social in the lobby of the building and met with Captain Paul Reed, Deputy Director of the MRC. CAPT Reed described his career in both the Navy and the Public Health Service and discussed the importance of the “elevator speech”. He emphasized the importance of communicating information efficiently and enthusiastically to maximize success. CAPT Reed concluded with astute observations regarding the state of health care and the future role of public health.            

Captain's Reed's handouts were both simple and profound.

 

The HOSA interns then worked on their respective projects and prepared their presentations for tomorrow. We’re excited to share our work with the MRC staff tomorrow and receive their feedback. (ENS Draude invited President Obama, but he had prior obligations). Commander Davis then came and gave a talk regarding his background, experience in the armed services, and many important life lessons. He particularly emphasized the importance of continuously learning and maintaining balance in one’s life. He also gave a moving discussion in regards to his role in the response to the Haiti earthquake and the public health issues that he had to consider. With our penultimate day at an end, we are determined to end the week with a bang and fully enjoy tomorrow's events.

The OSG interns started the morning by receiving a briefing from ENS Draude regarding the overall activities for the day. Time was allotted to clarify, explore and work on our selected projects. Many aspects of the projects will continue to evolve during the remainder of the week. Dr. Freeman and Dr. Clark spent time interviewing MRC volunteers as it relates to evacuation process.

The OSG interns were privileged to sit in on the Surgeon General's Policy Advisory Council Meeting, conducted by the Acting Surgeon General RADM  Lushniak.  We were given an opportunity to briefly discuss why we were interested in serving as OSG interns. The Acting Surgeon General emphasized that we will continue with the previous health initiatives (such as the walking initiative) as well as focusing on skin cancer prevention in the future.  The OSG interns participate in the walking initiative every day…in an effort to walk of the calories from the cheesecake.

It really is a small world! After the SG PAC Meeting CAPT Clark (Chief Veterinarian) took the time the inform Dr. Freeman that she, too, was from Alabama and that she had attended Auburn University in Veterinarian Medicine (War Eagle).  

Much of today was spent in meetings with various individuals in leadership. The afternoon meeting was very informative and enlighten as it relates to minority health. Commander Branch -Office of Minority Health (OMH) addressed issues that impact the overall health and well-being of minorities as well as discussed specify strategies for reducing the health disparities among this population. Examples of some minority groups includes: Native Americans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. The OSG intern advisors expressed an interest in working with the OMH by exploring service projects for the students in relation to the Affordable Health Care Act. Commander Branch provided us direction as well as provided contact name/numbers of the regional consultant.  The OSG students learned that the OMH library has invaluable resources that can be of assistance in the future. Lastly, everyone has been very receptive of the OSG interns and everyone has been eager to share “their stories” regarding their life’s journey. This has been an AWESOME experience!!!

Project Work with ENS Draude

Acting Surgeon General RADM Lushniak-standing

RADM Giberson-seated in white

CMDR Branch (khaki)

CAPT Clark

Acting Surgeon General RADM Lushniak

Day 2

What a busy second day we have had here as HOSA-OSG Interns! As we first arrived to the office, we met with the professionals who would be helping us with our individual projects, helping us gain some more perspective on what exactly we are all doing. Following those meetings we had the opportunity to attend a “morning huddle”, where we were briefed on all of the different assignments that CAPT Tosatto, CAPT Reed, LCDR Payne, CDR Denis, and ENS Draude are currently working on. The next item on the agenda was my personal favorite of the day, getting to meet and chat with (retired) Rear Admiral Ken Moritsugu, a former Acting Surgeon General. (Fun fact: He is the only one to serve under two different administrations! Cool, right?!) 

We had the wonderful privilege to pick his brain about public health as well as his personal background in public health. Next, our group had a quick lunch, and we were off to meet with congressmen from our home states to share the importance of HOSA- Future Health Professionals! Unfortunately, we did not get to meet everyone that we wanted to, but we definitely managed to make some strong connections! We met with Representative Brett Guthrie, from my home state of Kentucky, as well as staff members from the offices of Senators Jeff Flake (Arizona), and Tim Scott (South Carolina). We also ran into a couple former HOSA members here, small world! 

In between meetings, we were led through the Capitol for a tour that was full of history and excitement. As our tour ended, we traveled to The Monocle, a fantastic little restaurant where we were joined by CAPT Tosatto, CDR Denis, and ENS Draude for dinner. We finally decided that we needed to get out of there before we ordered any more cheesecake, and set out to tour a few monuments. First we stopped at Iwo Jima/the US Marine Corps War Memorial to watch members of the US Marine Corps perform their Silent Drill, which was truly AMAZING.  

Then we hopped in the van with CAPT Tosatto, and headed to the Albert Einstein Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. Today was definitely an extremely busy day, but it was truly an unforgettable one! 

Day 1



The 2013 July OSG Interns had a great first day! ENS Draube, LT Hager, CAPT Tosatto, CAPT Reed, and LCDR Payne met with us and gave us an overview of the Public Health Service and Medical Reserve Corps. We also learned their personal stories and how they came to the PHS. After this briefing we took the Metro into downtown DC to the Health and Human Service Building. This building houses the Secretary's Operation Center (SOC) where the SOC coordinates planning and responses to events, such as Presidential Inaugurations, as well as responses to disasters and terrorism. The SOC was developed after 9/11. It was very interesting to learn how theFederal government response has changed post 9/11 and post Katrina. The SOC monitors many types of social media and TV to keep aware of what is going on. The blue wall behind us in the picture is actually a large screen that the SOC staff uses to project data during an event or incident. Next we met with Ted Kennedy, the Chief of Response Operations. He is responsible for obtaining resources and deploying people during disasters. He also has the resources to move victims from the area for medical care.

We finished our day in DC by getting to visit the man who will become the Acting Surgeon General at midnight tomorrow! RADM Lushniak, along with soon to be Assistant Surgeon General and Chief Pharmacy Officer RADM Giberson, welcomed us to the PHS and shared some of their backgrounds and experiences.