Category: Z WEP Archives

Day 1- Teamworks Dog Training

My work experience is off to an absolutely amazing start. Today, Aesha and I got to shadow some dog trainers at Teamworks Dog Training and Board, and we both learned so much. We got to sit in on training sessions with dogs, in which they specialize in positive reinforcement and clicker training. Aesha and I even got to practice working with several dogs, big and small, learning to only reward when they follow direct commands, and to turn our backs to them when they become overexcited or jump on you. We worked with therapy dogs who were already skillful and learning more advanced maneuvers and with dogs who were still working on the basics. We also spent time just playing with dogs and giving them attention, as Teamworks boards many dogs and has to constantly rotate play time. It was an amazing first day and I can’t wait to learn and see more.

 

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Day 1 at Raleigh Orthopaedics in Cary

Even when I walked into the physical therapy office of Raleigh Orthopedics at 8am, it was packed. I was introduced to the people who worked there, which included two physical therapists, one strength and conditioning coach, one athletic trainer, and the receptionist. They were all very friendly and made me feel welcome. I spent the day watching what each person was doing, looking at different patients with a variety of needs. I saw knee injuries, ligament tears, back pains, heel issues, and a lot more. During my lunch break, I saw my good friend Ruhi Dholakia walk into the office, coming in for her weekly session. I didn’t expect to see her, but it shows how wide of a community physical therapy reaches. The most impressive thing I saw was when one of the therapists, Dennis, dry needle-ed a woman in her calf. He stuck many thin needles into the leg, leaving them sitting in one leg and moving the needles around in the other. The woman didn’t show any signs of pain, so I was quite surprised by that. I look forward to going back tomorrow and seeing more people and means of recovery.

Ruhi putting in work for her shoulder recovery

Day 1 at Osceola Studios

Today I walked into a studio full of people. There was a very good young rap group called Simplicity who had just finished recording their newest album. Their music sounded positive and jovial. It was very unique. Me. Hodgin was editing certain parts of several songs, and everyone was joking around with him. It was very cool to watch an actual song be made and feel what the atmosphere is like.

First Day at General Assembly

Getting to the Legislative Office in Downtown Raleigh was a hassle. I was held up in the Human Recourse office because I technically wasn’t supposed to work there without the proper orientation. After 20 minutes of waiting I was sent to find Rep. Fisher’s office. Navigating the maze like building I finally found the office. A somewhat small two roomed office. I got there and was introduced to Emily who is an actual intern working in the office. After waiting for a bit I met Ms. Garrison the Legislative Assistant, and then Rep. Fisher. After a bit I was ushered to the House floor for a session. I was recognized as a page and had to stand up in front of everyone, which was quite unnerving. It was a quick session lasting only 15 minutes. I was introduced to a hand full of other Representatives. Next was the democratic caucus meeting. The usual caucus meeting room was being used to hold protestor “Forward Together” about Medicaid expansion. The caucus lasted a long time and was interesting to see the behind the scenes of the policy making cycle. The next thing was another session meeting at 3 to debate bills.

Day 1: Commuting is Awful

I didn’t realize commuting would be such a struggle. I needed to get to work at 9 and it’s about a 30 minute drive from my house to Durham so I left around 8:10 am. I got to the museum at 9:15 am. It took me an hour! I went to the main staff meeting which was very interesting and made me want to go to more. I came in late and was already nervous. I awkwardly was introduced during a “what does this month look like” circle. It was a little mortifying being put on the spot in front of very passionate, intelligent, and  hardworking individuals who are all much older than me. Then I worked on the Education budget’s excel spreadsheet for quite some time managing random things and writing comments on certain allocations of money. At 2:00 pm is another meeting for just the Education branch and I’m excited for that. I’ve already met a lot of people who do a lot of different things and it’s making me think about the future. The head curator seems to travel all the time which is a job I’d probably want. The person in charge of organizing how the art is curated and organized actually builds models of the rooms and hangs up tiny versions of the paintings where he thinks they should go. It was very cool. I think that the next meeting will be even a deeper look in.

DAY 1: Bring Your Daughter to Work Day!

There was an issue at Dr. Sheikh’s lab that prevented me from going in today, so I spent the day with my dad, Dr. Neeraj Sachdeva, who is a gastroenterologist with Wake Endoscopy Center in Raleigh. Together, we reviewed a few recent studies and cases he had been involved with, including a case report of a woman who presented with what looked like a heart attack, but turned out to be hiatal hernia, along with a study regarding the detection rate of potentially pre-cancerous polyps (called adenomas) based on different conditions possessed by patients.

Through our discussion of the case, which combined work from both the cardiology and gastroenterology realms of medicine, I learned about EKGs and how to read them and what kinds of conditions could be indicated by different patterns of the waves. I also learned about a rare condition called an aortic dissection and even rarer one called a hiatal hernia and how to recognize both on CT scan images. While the case in question ended well with no particularly extreme measures taken to ensure the health of the woman, I learned how it is still important that my dad and his fellow physicians publish this information to other doctors, so that if another patient presents with similar symptoms in another part of the world, the possibility of hiatal hernia should not be immediately ruled out simply because of its rarity.

We also touched on a recent study conducted retrospectively based on data collected from the different colonoscopies done by doctors at the practice. The study addressed correlations between comorbid conditions such as obesity, diabetes and hypertension in relation to the discovery of pre-cancerous growths during colonoscopies. The study found that hypertension or high blood pressure didn’t play that much of a role, diabetes played close to a significant role and obesity played a very critical role in adenoma detection. Since we had a copy of the original raw data, I learned how to make conclusions based off of simply numbers and apply that to find implications for patients everywhere.

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