Blog 23: Interview 5

I interviewed junior, Alonso Corona, Thursday, the 26th, at lunch in front of Ortega's classroom.


1. What ideas do you have for your senior project and why?

• " I was thinking something in the fields of radio broadcasting or medicine, like pediatrics. These are possibilities for future careers for me."
• I explained to him that, while most seniors advise juniors not to choose a possible career choice as their senior project topic, I really recommend it. If you still like the subject after studying it for a year, then you know it would be a plausible career option.

2. What do you plan to do to complete the 10 hours of service learning which is due prior to senior year starting?

• "I was hoping to get into contact with someone in the medical profession or someone into radio broadcasting. I'm not too sure yet because I haven't looked into too much yet and I'm not sure about my topic."
• My advice was to look into service learning as soon as possible. I told him that finding service learning is very difficult, especially when talking about the medical professions, and that it could take longer than he expects to find service learning, let alone complete it, before summer is over. I also told him that it was good to make as many connections as possible with individuals that may be able to help him later on in his senior year with things like ideas and interviews.

3. What do you hope to see or expect to see when watching the class of 2012 present their two hour presentations?

• "My class is really into making really big projects and building things, so I'm hoping that the class of 2012 is the same, or better, because you guys are seniors."
• Basing this feedback off of my own experience when watching the senior projects, I told him that it is very important to pay close attention to the way the senior presents their topic, and see what works and what does not work, and apply this to his own senior project next year. 

4. What questions do they have about senior project? What additional recommendations would you give the 2013 student about senior project?

• He asked: "What was the most difficult part of senior project?" I told him that, although a generic answer, time management. First semester seems relaxed around senior project, and you amy not expect much, but once February comes, everything stacks up and it becomes difficult to juggle it all if you don't stay directly on top of things.
• I explained to him how important it is to take the senior project seriously the entire year, even when model assembly is going on. Due dates can creep up on you, and you suddenly have four blogs to write, an interview to complete, research to margin note, and towers to update, but you're stuck at service learning the entire Thursday afternoon. You definitely have to plan out your schedule on how you will tackle each new assignment. I also told him not to fall behind on the "little" things like research checks and updating towers/working bibliography, because the night before a research count will quickly turn into a very bad night. 

Blog 24: Independent Component 2

I, Carly Griffin, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."


I chose to spend both of my independent components completing additional service learning hours at Straight Talk, Inc. with my service learning mentor, Shelly Lummus. 


I knew that when I first started doing service learning in the office of Straight Talk, I would need to earn a lot of trust with the administrators of Straight Talk in order to be granted access into the actual rehabilitation houses with the patients I was studying. For this particular component, I logged 36.5 hours of service learning, a majority of which was completed at Gerry House in Santa Ana with Mrs. Lummus supervision. While there, I was able to see how the patients responded to certain treatments. While I was not able to work directly with any patients for privacy and safety reasons, a few of the counselors were able to share new counseling techniques they were trying out and how patients were responding.  


Being able to see how differently patients would respond to similar treatments led me to choose my second answer, tailoring a treatment plan to fit the individual needs of a patient, as my best answer. Before completing this independent component, I thought that my first answer, offering counseling and testing services to the patient, their partners, and their family, was my best answer. Having this amazing opportunity to see how real-life patients were each so drastically unique really changed the way I viewed my answers to my essential question. 


Log of Hours 

Blog 22: Answer Three

The most effective way to treat an HIV+ patient in drug rehab is by ensuring that patient meticulously follows a prescribed antiretroviral treatment plan. 


Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) are the drugs used by medical professionals to help keep patients' HIV under control. Of course, there is no sure for HIV, but antiretrovirals have the ability to greatly prolong the life of a patient with HIV when taken correctly. Currently, patients typically receive a combination of at least three HAART medications that inhibit viral replication of the HIV. In the absence of HAART, progression from HIV infection to AIDS has been observed to occur at a median of between nine to ten years and the median survival time after developing AIDS is only 9.2 months. The reasons for non-adherence and non-persistence with HAART are varied and overlapping. Major psychosocial issues, such as poor access to medical care, inadequate social supports, psychiatric disease and drug abuse contribute to non-adherence. The complexity of these HAART regimens, whether due to pill number, dosing frequency, meal restrictions or other issues along with side effects that create intentional non-adherence also contribute to this problem. 


Whatever the reason, lack of strict adherence to the HAART program results in ineffective treatment. The virus will continue to mutate and replicate until it becomes resistent to any form of management.

Without fail, my service learning experiences continued to be my main source in developing my third answer. Other sources, like Wikipedia, Aidsinfonet.org, Thebody.com, and Avert.com allowed me to see the HAART programs from a more medical viewpoint. 

Blog 21: 3-Column Chart

Chart

Blog 20: Room Creativity

1. I have been thinking about how I can make the classroom have a medical-like feel or a rehab center feel. In other words, I was thinking about putting up as much white around the room as possible to make it look "sterile", or I was going to give it a more inviting, "home-y" feel, like the rehab houses have. Obviously, I am still very unsure as to how this will be addressed.


2. I was hoping to repeat my activity that I used for 20-minute (the note card transmission) because I think my classmates really grasped the idea that my activity was trying to portray. It is difficult to come up with more exciting, educating ideas..

Blog 19: Answer Two

The most effective way to treat an HIV+ patient in drug rehab is by tailoring a treatment plan to fit the specific needs of each patient in any given facility.


Obviously, people are more willing to respond to anything that is geared specifically towards them, the individual. When it comes to an issue as touchy as HIV and drug rehabilitation, knowing that the plan you are following was created especially for you, you are more likely to follow it, as it becomes easier to see a successful ending. Also, each patient in a drug rehabilitation facility has their own story of why they got there in the first place, which means they each need their own way to ensure never having to come back to rehab. As an administrator, you must realize that coming up with one master plan to crank patients out of your facility will hurt the patient (and society), as you have no way of knowing whether or not you've addressed the specific reason the patient came to your facility in the first place. Relationships must be formed between patients and those administering treatment to make sure the patient gets the most help out of their stay. 


My service learning at Straight Talk, Inc. was, again, the biggest help in determining my second answer. Also, fact sheets from Aidsinfonet.org and the CDC have been extremely helpful in better understanding the many answers to my essential question.  

Blog 18: The Product

So far, the best definition of my product from the senior project has to be my newly acquired ability to be able to look at each individual I come into contact with, and not judge them by what I know about them and/or their past, but allow them a clean slate in my mind. In other words, when most people think about HIV+ patients in a drug rehab facility, it is customary to immediately think down upon them. This is nobody's fault, it's simply how society has groomed us to behave. Being able to overcome this in my mind is something that I have hoped for since the first day I looked into studying this topic, as I knew it would give be the best insight into how I can help these people turn their lives around. Now, when I walk into the rehabilitation centers to do service learning, I subconsciously take on the same mindset that comes with waking into the grocery store or college classroom - these people are just like me, and they each have something new to offer, all they need is a chance. 


Obviously, it is difficult to provide evidence that supports something like this. Honestly, I feel as though my many hours volunteering at Straight Talk Counseling, Inc. should show that I am in a setting that leaves me comfortable enough to come back for more.