Day 7 – Page 4 – CA Work Experience Program

Day 7 – Candidates, Carbs, and Careers

Today, I had to head into the office early again. I left my house around 7:30 and got to Bavarian Nordic at 7:50. I got there a little early so I could get my ducks in a row before the impending interview. I met Ms. Handelsman and Kaitlin in the break room where we debriefed our interview questions. Ms. Handelsman tasked us with coming up with one interview question before today. Mine was “talk about a time where you made a mistake, the measures you took to fix it, and what you learned.” I think that would be a tricky one! Ms. Handelsman liked it too.

During the interview, Kaitlin and I got to ask our questions. This made me feel very grown up! After the interview, which was very similar to last week’s, Janelle, Kaitlin, Erika, and I debriefed. Once again, it was very helpful to be on the other side of the interviewing process before I have to actually interview for jobs and colleges. We talked a lot about how the candidate’s weakness could be an issue since they said they are not the best at delegating. I learned that you have to be careful of what you admit to as your weakness. This question is very hard to get right because you don’t want to seem inhuman with no weakness but you also don’t want to make it seem like you have a critical flaw. Janelle pointed this out to me because she was having hesitations based off of the weaknesses that the candidates confessed to in the interview.

After our quick debriefing, Janelle, Erika, Kaitlin, Stephanie and I all went to the safety meeting for the Brachyury trial. This meeting was held through Skype since the other people were in Germany. It was a very quick meeting because there are only a few patients in the study. It was very cool to listen to, though! It is reassuring that there are people that genuinely care about the safety and efficacy of all the drugs and medicine on today’s market. Once the meeting concluded, Erika and I had to reprogram our data tables and visuals from the Brachyury trial because it mysteriously vanished from SAS. It was a pain to do all over, but it ultimately helped me become more proficient in SAS. Midway through our work session, Estelle came over to speak to us.

Estelle works in data management. Her job pertains to a lot of organization in the company. Without data management, clinical trials would not be possible. She noted that everyone thinks that they are the most important part of the operation, but without data, there would be nothing. She walked us through the website where various sites conducting clinical trials can enter data about their patients. I also noticed that everyone loves their jobs so much. Estelle has a real passion for data. I can only hope to find my passion like they did.

Once Estelle had finished her presentation, it was time for lunch. One of my coworkers makes really good homemade bread. She brought in 2 HUGE loaves (see photo). They were so good! After we had all filled our stomachs with bread, Kaitlin and I got back to work on our project. After our PowerPoints were all assembled, we practiced presenting our data tables to each other. Tomorrow, we will be presenting it in front of a group! Towards the end of the day, Dorian was free enough to talk to us. Dorian is the Pharmacovigilance Manager. This means she is in charge of keeping patients safe and investigating adverse events. Like Estelle, Dorian loves what she does. However, she started out as a nurse. Just like Stephanie, it is possible to find your dream career at any time! After learning about all the different jobs Dorian does, it was time to head home. Tomorrow is my last day of work experience. Just thinking about saying goodbye to all the friends I have made in these two weeks makes me sad. However, I will try my best to cherish the time I have left with them tomorrow!

Day 7 – New Construction Sites and Individual Work

Tommy and I started our day off by driving all over Cary and Durham trying to find some model homes that were either open or in existed. We eventually found one beautiful site where we looked at 3 extravagant model homes. They were beautifully designed and featured and they all had views of a lake. After that Tommy and I rode back to the Keller Williams office and finished our work on revamping 919 realty’s Instagram, writing articles on the model homes, and creating a calendar for the office. Tommy wrote the articles for the model homes and we both created the fun calendar filled with pictures and recipes. I found articles and created previews of model homes for 919 realty’s twitter and Instagram.

Day 7!

Today was a day to work on the project that Mr. Smith assigned us yesterday. This project included two different parts, both of which to get us thinking more along the lines of sports management. We had time to work on this project alone, so Jonathan and I split up the work and then got started. The first step of what Mr. Smith assigned us to do had to do with general questions about the role of a sports agent. He asked us to pretend we were an athlete that was getting signed out of high school and to determine the factors and questions we would have for an agency through this process. This exercise gave us the opportunity to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes to gain more knowledge for the actual work that a sports agent does. It was interesting to do research about different sports agencies and read some of the main factors of why certain ones are more liked than others. This comes down to a lot of factors, some being truthfulness and honesty. The second part of the project had to do with athletes from North Carolina in the past multiple drafts for baseball, basketball, and football. We made a spreadsheet that consisted of the players from the first couple of rounds of these drafts and found their salary after 4 years and what amount of this salary would go to the agent. Mr. Smith told us that this information would be very useful to him and that it is something that he has always wanted to collect. We are very excited to meet with him again tomorrow and tell him about our findings!

Some of the information we found regarding the athletes from North Carolina!

Day 8 – UNC Nursing Lecture

Today I was at UNC for a nursing lecture on heart surgeries and heart attacks. I got to sit in on the lecture and learn about pre-op and post-op care of heart surgery patients. During post op, nurses are to watch for changes in blood pressure, body temperature, white blood count, incision, and check for possibilities of infection. Then the lecture moved on to learns about warning signs for each of the above and how to treat them. The second half of the lecture focused on heart attacks. It covered how to know whether the patient was having a STEMI or NSTEMI heart attack. A STEMI attack requires immediate care and will result in death within minutes. A NSTEMI heart attack is less severe and does not require immediate attention. A STEMI heart attack will show a different EKG then a NSTEMI heart attack as seen below.

Day Seven: Suicide Prevention & Salsa

Today was yet another jam-packed day at the Legislative Buildings! Yet again, it was multiple meetings starting at around 9:30 AM. Our only break was the committee house meeting that occurred around 11, which was rather important as it addressed the piece of legislation that the occupational therapists were pushing for yesterday. Fortunately, it passed through the house with a favorable referral- which expedites the process of the legislative grind. It was once again very cool to see the immediate impact of the lobbying work, and I am sure that the OT’s were very pleased to hear the news! Once it passed the house, it has to go to Senate Rules, and then it will probably be referred to a bunch of separate committees. It takes quite a long time for a bill to become law… and yes, it is exactly like the “I’m Just A Bill” song provided to us by Schoolhouse Rock. After, my lovely boss and I grabbed a bite to eat at Centro. We had a great conversation about almost anything one could think about, and it was a great experience getting to know her as a person as well as a working individual. Next, we had a meeting about HB967, which is a suicide prevention bill within K-12 public schools. There is some unnecessary holdup by certain Senators still, but I could never see why someone would be opposed to a bill put into effect to save kid’s lives. But that’s just my humble opinion…. oh well. That’s all for today!

Work, work, work, work, work, work: Day 7 at KW Elite

All I want is this to be my back porch. That is all.

Proof that I’ve been working and not just taking pictures of random houses

If being a realtor means I can sleep till 9:30, sign me up! Natalie and I met at 11 this morning to tour a new development….that is so new it didn’t exist! Great. Instead, we decided to take a road trip out to Pittsboro to another new development…that while built was unattended and as either of us wanted to break in, we kept driving. Third time’s the charm? You would’ve thought. The third development was a cult meeting. Literally. We arrived and about 22 of the same color, model, year pick up trucks did too and then they proceeded to almost surround us. Needless to say we packed up and drove out quicker than we came in. We finally arrived at Lake Castleberry, a CalAtlantic development built right on *Shocker* Lake Castleberry. When I tell you these were crazy homes, I mean crazy. We toured three models, each nicer than the last, and learned a lot about how to market a neighborhood. In short, put every feature in the model to bump the price from $500,000 to $995,000. All humor aside, it was actually a super important lesson. Natalie and I then went back to KW and worked on finishing touches on our projects, two things we are both pretty proud of! Truth be told, leaving will be bitter (with no sweet) because I will miss all of the staff, all of the fun real estate lessons, and the houses of course. Oh the houses.

French West Vaughn Day 7

Day 7 blog-

Today was a busy day at French West Vaughn. We started out the day looking for Instagram influencers for a new and upcoming company that cannot be currently discussed. The second thing we did was find dates and times that would convenience the company and provide a good opportunity to boost their progress. It doesn’t sound like much, but we had to find a lot of different influencers on Instagram, Youtube, and blogs. After we did that we took a lunch break and then started another assignment. Our last task of the day was to look for more influencers but for different companies this time. We had to find swimmers or swim athletes that could be potential influencers for the company arena. What made this more difficult was how narrow a category that person had to fit into. The person had to be female, have a least 300 likes per post, at least 5k followers, over the age of 22 and under the age of 35, and post at least once a month of them swimming. We also had to find influencers for the company O2 and that requirement was that they reside in NC. We eventually got all this done, but it was a lot more than we had been doing in the previous days.

Day Seven – Business as Usual

My day began in the call room as Ms. Devivo and I again crammed into a telephone box to make another call to the car clients. However, we only occupied that 34 x 40 in room for around 12 minutes this time. Then Ms. Sams. entered the box with both of us for a quick conversation. I almost felt the need to hold my breath as it seemed like the oxygen levels in the call box were plummeting. A lot of the work that these two have regarding their car client involve changing one sentence in the bill which appears to possibly have a different function than intended. Multiple meetings involving several lobbyists and members of the industry were interspersed into the day. A little before lunch Ms. Devivo walked into a pop-up dermatology clinic at the legislature to have her skin checked for free. While Ms. Devivo was away Ms. Sams told me that often times medical practitioners will offer free services to everyone in the legislature in order to promote their cause. Thankfully, as stated by Ms. Devivo these doctors “found nothing, but looked hard.” After lunch we went to a meeting held by the NC Board of Education in order to check up on charter school issue. Ms. Devivo explained to me that they represent a charter school company with three schools specifically intended for drop-out students. The State must grade every charter school however these schools are subject to an unfair standard given their student population. Thus added provisions needed to be added in order to set a fair standard for these schools. Luckily no board members contested this provision.

We Coordinated Red, White, and Blue for the Veteran’s Celebration at the Legislature

Day 7 – A Slow Day at the Office

Day 7 was a slow day for me, with fewer patient visits than usual. Mrs. Bridges pointed out how today followed a typical day in the office, with most of the morning appointments only consisting of medication management and physicals. With that being said, my morning was not the most jam-packed, as I only got to visit with two patients…

9:45am patient (84 year old male): This patient came to the office for an urgent visit, concerning a lump on his wrist. He sprained his wrist 3 weeks ago from gardening, during which he felt a “pop” in his wrist while digging a hole. He has been wearing a wrist brace that secures his thumb which has been helping; however, he still has pain when hyperextending. Dr. Bloom first assessed his wrist sprain, to which the patient was only in pain when the wrist was bent backwards. He said that the wrist is healing properly. He then examined the lump on the patient’s wrist; this bump is known as a ganglion cyst. Dr. Bloom assured the patient that it is benign and actually quite common. He said that these cysts are often drained, but since this cyst is located on the outside of the wrist, there is a danger with this method of removal; there are 2 major arteries along the wrist that could get caught up during the drainage. Thus, Dr. Bloom said that as long as the patient is pain-free and the cyst causes no problems, there is no need to remove it. He did advise the patient to keep a lookout on the bump, and if there are any complications, he can have it cut out. Dr. Bloom recommended the patient to also take his wrist brace off at least 3 times a day to strengthen it and work on movement, to which the patient said he has been doing.
10:45am patient (35 year old male): This patient was here for an office visit, regarding a referral to an ENT doctor for his deviated septum. Mrs. Bridges explained to me that a deviated septum is a sideways displacement of the wall between the nostrils. Its most common symptom is constant nasal congestion. Septoplasty is the procedure that can be performed to fix a deviated septum, in which the septum is broken and then corrected. Mrs. Bridges also explained to me that insurance often needs a referral from a primary care doctor for specialized doctors or even surgery. Upon Dr. Bloom’s arrival, he examined the patient’s nose and throat, confirming that he has a deviated septum. The patient explained how he constantly has trouble breathing and sleeping and has really had these symptoms for as long as he can remember. He also tried taking some nasal steroids, such as Flonase, however, these only helped with his allergies (not the mechanics). Thus, Dr. Bloom referred him to Dr. Mike Ferguson, a wake ENT doctor. He predicted that the patient will likely undergo a septoplasty, which Dr. Bloom assured the patient was a relatively safe surgery (minimal risk for bleeding and infections). Dr. Bloom did mention that the post-operation will be painful, but the procedure is worth it.

The following are a couple of the patients I visited with after lunch…

1:45pm patient (57 year old female): This patient came to the office for an urgent visit, concerning a burning sensation in her upper left thigh. Before entering the room, Mrs. Bridges described her medical history to me. The patient was diagnosed with pericarditis 6-7 years ago and was unable to regulate her blood pressure. She also could not walk across a room without her lips and finger tips turning blue. In February, she had a radical pericardiectomy, which means her pericardium was completely removed. Ever since then, the patient feels so much better and has even lost a lot of weight that was caused by the diuretics. Upon Dr. Bloom’s entry in the room, the patient described her current condition, which started on Friday. She initially was awoken in the middle of the night by a severe itching sensation, which eventually turned into a painful burning sensation. Now she has a small, 2inch rash on her lower back. Dr. Bloom diagnosed her with shingles. In her case, the pain follows the nerve route from her L3 disc, which means it starts in her back and curves into her inner leg. He prescribed her 1000mg of Valtrex to be taken 3 times a day for 7 days, as well as Gabapentin, to be taken as needed before bed (1-3 tablets). Dr. Bloom warned the patient that she will likely have discomfort for the next 1-3 weeks and to keep him updated on her condition.
2:15pm patient (38 year old male): This patient was here for an office visit, regarding knee pain. He has been having right knee pain for the past year and a half and recently received an MRI. He has a partially torn ACL and PCL, along with some scar tissue. He noted that his pain has gotten worse; he initially only had pain about 10% of the time, but now his pain is much more frequent. Mrs. Bridges also explained to me that he has reached his deductible for the year, so the patient is interested in exploring treatment options. Upon Dr. Bloom’s arrival, he asked the patient if there was any injury he could recall that caused the partial tears, to which the patient said no. Dr. Bloom then went through a typical examination to test the knee strength and movement through various stretches. The patient was in no pain throughout the exam but was quite stiff (wouldn’t relax). The only problem during the exam was the patient’s inability to squat, which showed his weakness in his glutes and hips. Dr. Bloom declared that the patient’s knee is completely stable and that he could potentially have some slight degenerative changes in his knee cap which has caused the pain in his knee. Dr. Bloom referred the patient to physical therapy 1-2 times a week for the next 8 weeks. He stressed the importance of strengthening the whole chain of muscles along the patient’s legs and back to relieve the knee pain. Dr. Bloom also noted that after the 8 weeks, he won’t necessarily be pain free, but the pain should have waned. Dr. Bloom said if the patient doesn’t improve in the next 8 weeks then he could get a cortisone shot. He also asked for the patient to send him his MRI.

Day 7 – Rootle at UNC-TV

I was back with Ms. Holt at UNC-TV again for the second day. I spent the majority of my morning with the kids program team or what they call themselves “Rootlers” because the kids program is called “Rootle.” I learned all about the different programs they are working on and how they are trying to get involved in the North Carolina community. Ms. Erica Starke-Knight showed me a project she had been working on called GirlPower. It is a collection of short video clips of different young girls all over North Carolina who display what makes them special and strong. The videos are online and they also air sporadically on “Rootle” in between the shows. I got to spend time in the kids section of the studio and walk down memory lane by looking at all the old shows that PBS used to air. Everything from “Teletubbies” to “Dragon Tales” to “Sesame Street.” The producers even recorded me singing the theme songs to each of these shows to put on their social media platforms. I had a great time in the kids lounge with the team. Later, I came back to Ms. Holt and helped put together spreadsheets of an upcoming conference she is hosting for her show “Black Issues Forum.” I was also able to edit my own short clip about an art gallery in eastern North Carolina. Then the day was over, but I will come back for my last day tomorrow!