Here is my recap of my last week in India.
Monday:
We went to Pravara Public School along with the group of interns from the west coast and did a workshop on what health is. A couple of the other interns (Nathan & Stephanie) planned the whole workshop so the rest of us just helped out. We broke into groups of 2 interns and about 6 students and had the students draw pictures about what health means to them and then present their posters to the rest of the group. It was interesting to learn about what they all thought health meant. A common theme was that laugher is the best medicine and an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I think almost all of the groups had those things on their posters. Nathan and Stephanie also gave a powerpoint presentation on health and what it means and we had some time to answer any questions that the students had before we played some games with them. It was a great break from our usual posting and was very nice to actually feel like we were doing something. Plus getting to hang out with kids always makes things better.
In the evening we then went to a salon and had mehndi done by a couple of women there. It took about 3 hours for the 5 of us to get it done on our arms and we really appreciated them staying late to do it and also chatting with us. They did a great job and each of us have a very unique design that will stay for a couple weeks and remind us of our time in India, plus it makes us feel like we got the full Indian experience.
Tuesday:
Today was a holiday for PMT. It was the founding day of the school so we didn't have any postings. It seems like the month of August is the time for holidays in India as this is the 3rd one that we have had. I spent most of the day working on projects that we have to do for our certificate of social medicine as well as for our rotation. I was actually pretty productive so that was good for me since I had been putting some of the stuff off for quite some time. We also went out to eat with Tanvi at a seafood restaurant that people had been telling us to go to. I am not a huge seafood fan, but the food was really good and we all ate way to much and also had a fun time taking some unattractive photos.
Wednesday:
We were posted in orthopedics. We observed the outpatient department and watched them interact with the patients and also got to see them put a cast on a man's leg. The professor also had us do a little drug research project about vitamin D and its use in rickets. We wrote up a short paper about vitamin D and gave it to him and he seemed really pleased with our work so that was nice.
Thursday:
We were posted in the tuberculosis department. We spent the morning with the medical officer and he took us to the wards and showed us the tb patients. I was very surprised to learn that all of the tb patients are in the wards with the rest of the patients. I expected that they would be separated since it is passed very easily through droplets. Then we went back to his office and learned a little more about tb, how they treat it, and then spent time just talking about the US.
Friday:
We did a presentation about our time in India to the staff at the Center for Social Medicine as well as the other interns. Then we said our goodbyes to everyone. Saguna invited us to her house and she gave us each a sari and blessed us as well. We also had to say goodbye to Tanvi, which was hard. We decided it would be a lot easier to leave India if the people weren't so nice and hospitable. At 4 pm we'll be headed to Mumbai and then start our travels back to the Des Moines through Munich and Chicago. I still can't believe that I was here for 8 weeks it was such an amazing experience and I will never forget it.
Monday:
We went to Pravara Public School along with the group of interns from the west coast and did a workshop on what health is. A couple of the other interns (Nathan & Stephanie) planned the whole workshop so the rest of us just helped out. We broke into groups of 2 interns and about 6 students and had the students draw pictures about what health means to them and then present their posters to the rest of the group. It was interesting to learn about what they all thought health meant. A common theme was that laugher is the best medicine and an apple a day keeps the doctor away. I think almost all of the groups had those things on their posters. Nathan and Stephanie also gave a powerpoint presentation on health and what it means and we had some time to answer any questions that the students had before we played some games with them. It was a great break from our usual posting and was very nice to actually feel like we were doing something. Plus getting to hang out with kids always makes things better.
In the evening we then went to a salon and had mehndi done by a couple of women there. It took about 3 hours for the 5 of us to get it done on our arms and we really appreciated them staying late to do it and also chatting with us. They did a great job and each of us have a very unique design that will stay for a couple weeks and remind us of our time in India, plus it makes us feel like we got the full Indian experience.
Tuesday:
Today was a holiday for PMT. It was the founding day of the school so we didn't have any postings. It seems like the month of August is the time for holidays in India as this is the 3rd one that we have had. I spent most of the day working on projects that we have to do for our certificate of social medicine as well as for our rotation. I was actually pretty productive so that was good for me since I had been putting some of the stuff off for quite some time. We also went out to eat with Tanvi at a seafood restaurant that people had been telling us to go to. I am not a huge seafood fan, but the food was really good and we all ate way to much and also had a fun time taking some unattractive photos.
Wednesday:
We were posted in orthopedics. We observed the outpatient department and watched them interact with the patients and also got to see them put a cast on a man's leg. The professor also had us do a little drug research project about vitamin D and its use in rickets. We wrote up a short paper about vitamin D and gave it to him and he seemed really pleased with our work so that was nice.
Thursday:
We were posted in the tuberculosis department. We spent the morning with the medical officer and he took us to the wards and showed us the tb patients. I was very surprised to learn that all of the tb patients are in the wards with the rest of the patients. I expected that they would be separated since it is passed very easily through droplets. Then we went back to his office and learned a little more about tb, how they treat it, and then spent time just talking about the US.
Friday:
We did a presentation about our time in India to the staff at the Center for Social Medicine as well as the other interns. Then we said our goodbyes to everyone. Saguna invited us to her house and she gave us each a sari and blessed us as well. We also had to say goodbye to Tanvi, which was hard. We decided it would be a lot easier to leave India if the people weren't so nice and hospitable. At 4 pm we'll be headed to Mumbai and then start our travels back to the Des Moines through Munich and Chicago. I still can't believe that I was here for 8 weeks it was such an amazing experience and I will never forget it.
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| My group working hard on their poster |
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| My second group presenting their poster |
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| Out to eat at the seafood place |
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