Day4

Day 4- Implant Central

Yay for early mornings! I took this just before going into the office.

Model of an implant from the lab.

Everyone in the office today was glad that it was Friday, well, except for the fact that Friday means opening an hour earlier than usual! So, we started our day nice and early with a variation of cleanings and only one “special” case. Everything was smooth sailing and just when the office was almost empty, two urgent cases were called in, and these two cases were by far the two most interesting of the day.
The first urgent case that came in was what I like to call an “arts and crafts” case because Dr. Sims built an entire temporary tooth on the spot. Unfortunately, this patient was missing an entire front tooth and had already undergone surgery for an implant and was waiting on her permanent tooth to place in her mouth. However, she had a temporary tooth that Dr. Sims sculpted by layering acrylic material and setting it with a light tool. He worked from each surrounding tooth inwards and created what looked to be a real front tooth. This patient can now have a regular and fully functioning bite until she receives her permanent partial for her front tooth (which is only a few weeks away!).
The second urgent case that came in today was a patient with severe gingivitis who was complaining of a pain in the upper right area of her mouth. The area where she complained of pain was in the rear of her mouth at the gum, so Dr. Sims took an x-ray to see what happened. The gingivitis caused a gap in the gum between two teeth, which caused a tooth that had already been treated with a root canal, to crack in a sideways manner. What made this crack particularly interesting is that the crack was a complete split in two of the root of the tooth. This is quite rare but the x-ray showed how the tooth had split into the hole in the gum caused by gingivitus. The next step was extracting the tooth to avoid further damage and prevent more infection of the gums from occurring. The tooth did come out in the two pieces that it split into, but it was with much difficulty. It was not difficult in the sense that the tooth would not move but rather difficult because of severe bleeding that took place. The patient had severe gingivitus and it was difficult to work because there was a constant need to remove blood from the mouth. Dr. Sims was able to successfully remove the tooth, but did have to go back to find a piece that was lost in the infected gum in the deepest part of where the tooth was lodged. It was through an x-ray that Dr. Sims was able to find this missing piece, and send another satisfied patient on their way.
While those two cases were definitely my favorites of the day, there was one regular cleaning that I found interesting because the patient’s x-rays were unique. This patient had several implants and crowns, some of which were done by Dr. Sims and others were not. With this variation, in the x-rays I was able to see the different types of implants and how they vary in brand, size, shape, height, and detail. I found it interesting to be able to explain and discuss with Dr. Sims the reasoning for why each type of implant was suggested and used for each different tooth scenario. I was also able to explain and understand why certain methods were used to insert these implants because of the initial situation. X-rays may seem like simple white and black photos, but in reality they are fascinating photos that tell a million stories.
Looking at several x-rays and a lot of implants today, along with the sculpting of a tooth from scratch, I’d say today was the best yet. I was amazed by the level of ease that it took for Dr. Sims to sculpt a completely new tooth and have the patient walking out the door in less that fifteen minutes. I loved to be able to continue analyzing x-rays and identify patient progress through the x-rays and see how far they have come from whatever their initial diagnosis was. I can’t wait to see more cases next week and continue to grow my knowledge of dentistry.

Day 4 – Print Shop and Goodbyes

Today I went off site with my tour guide and host Paul to HM Document Solutions, which is the only manufacturing company under the greater Highmark Health company. Unfortunately, I was unable to take any pictures inside or share detailed information because of a non disclosure agreement. The print shop handles about 700 jobs per day, differentiating in scale, from Highmark affiliated work to independent, external jobs. The huge warehouse was filled with very impressive high speed machinery; not like your average Kinkos! One of the most interesting things I saw were the rolls of paper to be cut down and printed upon for jobs- the rolls were about a half ton in weight each, cost $500, and were able to produce over 88,000 pieces of 8 x 11 inch paper when cut to size.

I then attended an intern meeting with Adam, which gave me some perspective into the early process of participating in an internship, which will serve me well as I plan do a full paid summer internship here at the home office next summer (which Liz and Tina have invited me to participate in). Most of the afternoon was spent wrapping up my week here in Pittsburg at the home office with some final meetings with Tina and Liz. I also did some rounds visiting everyone on the marketing team to say my final thank yous, and present some gifts of North Carolina specialties that I purchased. Tina, Liz, and the rest of the team were even thoughtful enough to give me a present. It’s bittersweet leaving the office that so quickly felt like home, but I’m excited to catch my flight tonight to begin the next phase of my journey in Cheyenne, Wyoming!

Walk West: Day 4

This morning started off a bit slow, nevertheless the energy picked up in the afternoon. Not too many people needed help on any tasks this morning, so I continued my research for Andrew on SEO. Eventually, I reviewed two previews of website pages for the NC State Jenkins MBA program and was able to give feedback on if I thought there were any changes that needed to be made. The Walk West office is located within the Ventures building on the NC State campus; therefore, they strive to collaborate with many different NC State programs, etc. Each month they send out a newsletter to their employees, as well as their clients. When they feature articles, launches, and events they write a short 2-3 sentence overview of what happened/what it is about and its significance. I was able to write these for an article written by an employee, as well as a book the company had been mentioned in. Definitely a little bit scary to think about having my writing in a newsletter — but I’m sure Mr. Follet taught me well enough this year! After a quick lunch break (I ate inside the office, but NC State has food trucks come weekly, so many people eat within the campus), I ended up searching up who represented specific addresses for the Senate and House of Reps. Later, I worked with an intern who is also an NC State student and plays volleyball! We researched political ad disclosure policies in other states, as new regulations are coming forth because of the Facebook scandal.

As usual, today started with Stand-Up at 9:30. Today was a bit different since Rachel wasn’t with us. Regardless, after stand up was over we met with Mary again and she gave us a form that she wanted us to work on for one of Field2Base’s clients. We were actually able to get it to work and we tested it on the android application to make sure it would be fine when the client tried to use it. It was really cool that we were able to work on a form that would actually be given to a customer! After we got the form working, we met with Howard who showed us a bit more about SQL and databases. We briefly met Howard on Tuesday, but he was gone Wednesday and Thursday with his family. The meeting lasted about an hour, and afterwards we ate lunch at the office today. Once we were done eating, Howard assigned us a challenge to try and complete to test our knowledge. We spent the rest of the day working on accomplishing the task since it ended up being a lot more difficult than it seemed. The task was to try and create a form that had a drop-down menu where you could select a name from a list of names and then it would fill in the rest of the data for that person. The trick is that the data all had to come from an excel file, so it was a separate challenge trying to link the form program with an excel file. He also tasked us with using an API to find out the city and state of a student based on their zip code by pulling the zip code from the excel. This was by far the most challenging part of the assignment; however, by getting help from both Mary and Howard we were able to get it all working. By the time we finished the challenge, we were exhausted! Shortly after, we packed up and headed home. Can’t wait for next week!

House Hunting (like the show!)

Construction at my future neighborhood (I mean Southpoint Trails)!

This was the worst house of the day….that says something!

If you need me between now and next Friday, you can find me at the Drake model home at Southpoint Trails!

Today was the most laid back day of the experience thus far. After our somewhat of a failure discovering the new developments yesterday, Kristi called the agents at both of the developments (Southpoint Trails and the Meadows at Southpoint) to let them know we were coming. We went to Trails first, where we toured two different model homes (1 and 3 Photos were at that development). The homes were awesome! I liked the first one best due to the light and airy feel, while Natalie preferred the darker, homier one we toured second. After we gained information surrounding Southpoint Trails, we continued down the road to the Meadows. The Meadows featured smaller, lower priced homes that we targeted much more to a starter home level. They, while still nice, were much less stylish than the other ones. We toured these homes in order to gain insight into what the neighborhoods were really about so that when new clients come to town, Kristi will know where to show them. Natalie and I were supposed to meet with a development expert today, however that was postponed until next week, so we got a great lunch at the mall. After lunch, we met Kristi at one of her listings where she showed us how to show a house. One thing that I found interesting was that in reality, it is better to not shove the information down the client’s throats, rather to let them wander and provide information when necessary. It was an awesome day today and I can’t wait for what next week holds!

Day 4- A Visit with Uncle Arthur

This morning I shadowed Mr. Sean Russell, a physician assistant who specializes in joint injections through ultrasounds. He does injections in most any joints in the body, but today I was able to see in the shoulders, knees and hips.

The injections consist of cortisone, kenalog (a steroid) and either marcaine or lidocaine, depending on if they want short or long term effects. The syringes looked like normal shots, except the needles were all around 4 inches long. Each time the needle would go all the way deep into the skin, which caused visible discomfort to the patients.

The process began with an ultrasound on the section of the body needing the injection. The ultrasound allowed Mr. Russell to see where the needle needed to go exactly. The needles needed to go in precise spots, such as between the glenoid and humeral head in the shoulder. Using the ultrasound, he’d mark a specific location that he was going to insert the needle. His assistant would then spray a cold, numbing spray on the skin to help ease pain. He’d first insert a numbing medicine, then change the syringe (leaving the needle injected) to put the medicine into the body. It was a quick process, but was described as feeling similar to bee stings inside their body. These injections cause immediate relief because of the numbing medicine for 4-6 hours, but the cortisone won’t kick in until 48 hours later.

The patients receiving treatment were often patients who didn’t need surgery now, but would in the future because of arthritis in their joints. One older man walked into the room for his 6th time getting injections in his shoulders, and proclaimed, “Good ole Uncle Arthur is trying to break me, but he hasn’t got me yet!”

Below are pictures of the ultrasound machine and one of the syringes.

Day 4 at FHI!

We started out the day walking around downtown Durham. We found a Belgian Waffle food truck, and went to get some waffles!… but the truck had run out of waffles. Oh well, at least we got a nice picture!

We had a fun time at the Belgian waffle food truck!

After our waffle-less waffle run, we returned to our conference room. I must say, today at FHI 360 was arguably one of the most intense days we have had! While we did not have as many meetings as we’ve had the past few days, we did work on our individual youth health project for quite a few hours. I guess all of those alumni were right- even though junior year is over, THE GRIND NEVER STOPS! All in all, though, we did accomplish quite a lot, and are most definitely looking forward to sharing what we did with the rest of the CA community!

Finally, we learned from FHI employees the importance of ensuring that all research studies are ethical, which I personally did not realize was such an important facet of global health. Well, now I know!

Day 4: Staff Meetings, Smoothie King, and prepping for a court visit

I arrived at the office today at 9:00 a.m. sharp (well, more like 9:05 because I had to grab coffee…). Then, I headed to my office–yes, I have my own office–and promptly sat in the desk chair. I’m totally kidding about the office part, by the way; my “office” belongs to a staff member currently on vacation, but it’s cool to imagine that I am actually an ACLU-NC employee!

I spent the next twenty minutes or so sorting through my previous notes and chatting with Sarah and Susanna. At around 9:30, we entered the conference room for an informal Friday campaign and policy meeting. At the meeting, the conference participants and I discussed our weekly activities, strategies, and new knowledge. We began with a conversation about the new budget bill recently passed by the General Assembly. Unfortunately, although the Raise the Age bill, which changes the maximum age of an individual tried in the juvenile justice system from 15 to 17, will become law in November 2019, hardly any money in this budget will be used to abet this process.

I got to learn about how the ACLU organizes information for conducting public information and other campaigns, and that was really impressive.

I was pretty hungry from all the discussing/toggling with the web, so I grabbed a nice smoothie from Smoothie King (I didn’t really know what I was doing, so the process took way longer than expected..) and sat back down at my desk. Sarah then proceeded to instruct Jessica and me on what to look for when we visit the Wake County Superior Court on Monday. We were told that each case takes about two minutes–enough time for the defendant to be charged and presented with a set amount of bail. The cases we’ll be viewing are higher level crimes, and most of those accused are not aware of the proper court proceedings and do not have an attorney. Thus, the heavy subject material.

In total, I learned a multitude of information today. Mostly that I can’t consider myself a staff member until I have my own office and learn to take less than an hour on a trip to Smoothie King. But in all seriousness, I’ve had an amazing time this week. I cannot wait to see what Monday will bring.

Day 4 – Assignments and Meetings!

As I walked in at 9am this morning, as per usual, there was already lots of activity around the office. It’s National Donut Day today, so there were doughnuts that were brought it (Krispy Kreme!), which was great for obvious reasons. Donuts aside, there were developments on an incident that occurred on April 3rd and involved the Raleigh Police Department, and Ms. Walker gave me an assignment to research and print out different articles about the incident (that were published within the last week or so to maintain relevance). This was to make sure that the department remains informed about what different sources are saying about the incident, and what type of message is being conveyed to the public through the media.

After that, we headed over to the Green Square to attend a meeting. The Green Square is an area in downtown Raleigh where the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is located. The meeting was held in a large conference room (where the celebration of National Donut Day continued as there were donuts being offered there, as well) with a wide window that provided a beautiful view of downtown. The meeting that we attended was a meeting between the head communications officers from several different state departments to discuss topics that involved each division.

It was incredibly interesting once again to see how all of the departments, which seem so disparate, actually share many interests and are constantly working together to succeed. This meeting, and the collaboration shown between every division, truly showcased the significance of professional connections and relationships.

I didn’t have time to take a photo at the Green Square since we were heading to a meeting, but here’s a photo of a section of the Green Square from https://www.raleighnc.gov/home/news/content/CorNews/Articles/SRSSustainabilityWalkingTour.html.

Day 4 with Dragonwing Girlgear

Today was my last day working with Ms. Gucciardi on my website. We finalized the website and made sure that it looks good on phones as well as the computer. We also went over my ads and created a few more varieties to test color and copy. Also Ms. Gucciardi showed me the Facebook ad pages and how you can use facebook to track and control traffic to your site. We talked about warm and cold leads as well, warm being those who already know your site and cold being those who see your ad and are drawn to your site, with no prior personal connection or information. Lastly Ms. Gucciardi taught me about email funneling and how your activities on the site as well as on email can determine what sort of ads or deals you recieve. It was very interesting to learn all the behind the scenes that goes into advertising, but also a little scary to see how all your movements on the internet and tracked and analyzed. Today I focused a little more instagram ads and this weekend I will be in charge of releasing and keeping up with the dragonwing instagram. Later today we are going to release our first teaser ads and that site should be up by middle of next week. I am so happy to have had this opportunity and I have learned so much! It is so exciting learning so much and I so glad to have had such a real world experience in my field of interest!

Website Link (once released): https://dragonwingcampessentials-com.myshopify.com/

Instagram Username: @dragonwinggirl