Eating DNA

Today I made a replica of some good old deoxyribonucleic acid.

Mmm. More commonly known as DNA,  it is hidden in tiny, long structures called chromosomes. During cell division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, providing each cell its own complete set of chromosomes. It grows something like this: One cell makes two, two makes four, four makes eight, etc. 

 I first chose a sequence, and then placed adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine in that order. Those are just four types of nucleobases (aka, bases).These four nucleobases, along the backbone, encode biological information, like your eye color or your hair color. Marshmallows were my base pairs, and a Twizzler was the backbone. The backbone is made up of a residue of chemical sugars.

Yum! Cytosine!

Labelling my base pairs. 

                            Adenine always pairs with thymine, and cytosine with guanine.

Twisting it into a double helix.

BLS Class

Tuesday I took a BLS, or Better Life Support class. I learned what to do in the event of a choking or cardiac arrest. I also learned how to use a manual defibrillator, and AED, a pocket mask, and a bag mask!!

This is a dummy with the AED pads attached. The AED tells you when to give a shock, stop compressions, and start compressions.

This is a bag mask. You would only use it in the event of a two-person rescue.

If it was just you, by yourself with an adult heart attack victim, you would:

1. Shake the victim. Call loudly, "Sir/Ma'am, can you hear me?"
2. Get a passerby to call for help. Alert another to find an AED.
3. If you get no response, feel by the trachea for a pulse. This should take no more than 10 seconds. Time is important.
4. If  you find no pulse, immediately start chest compressions. These take a lot of energy. Count out loud.
5. Once you've done thirty compressions, allowing chest recoil time, give two breaths. If you don't have a pocket mask, seal your lips around the victim's and breathe twice. Watch for the chest to rise and fall. 
6. Attach the AED pads under the left nipple and above the right.
7. The AED will instruct you to stand back, and it will shock the victim.
8. Wait for the AED to reanalyze.
9. Resume compressions, if the AED tells you to.
10. Repeat this cycle  until you see the victim breathing normally or until EMTS arrive.

So, as you can see, I had a lot of steps to remember! I also had to practice chocking rescue, and we practiced on adult, toddler, and infant dummies. Then we took a 25 question test. I was pretty nervous, as I was the only kid there, but I passed.

I am now a certified healthcare professional!!

Candy Striping

Monday I had a really unique opportunity as a  hospital Jr. Volunteer. I got to volunteer in Day Surgery, instead of working the floor. ( working the floor just means I attend to patients in rooms-bring flowers, newspapers, coffee,etc to them, and wheel 'em  out when it's time to go home.) I worked in surgery and surgery waiting. I was able to do this thanks to a super nice lady at church, who is over surgery volunteers.The hospital I volunteer at uses volunteers as a go between with patients patients and the patient's families. Our job is to keep the family informed on what's happening in surgery, where the patient will be, and when they can see him. We also make the families as comfortable as we can, which means we make coffee, give directions to the cafeteria, and assist them in any way possible. It's especially interesting for me, because I want to be a pediatric ENT or orthopedic surgeon, and many of the patients are children with ENT related problems.

  Both floor and surgery volunteers deliver medical charts to Med. Surge 1 &2, ICU, and IMC. This is always fun, because you see what's going on in all the different departments. Our hospital is fairly small, but it's big enough to get lost in, and part of my job is showing people where ambulatory care and radiology are. The cutest part of the job is definitely getting to present new babies with little baby food spoons that have the hospital name engraved on them. We had five babies last Tuesday, and I got to give them the little spoons. :) It's funny, but wherever I go in my candy striper uniform, people are like"Oh, my goodness! A candy striper! I haven't seen one of those in years!" I love being able to tell them about my experiences. Do any of y'all volunteer at interesting or unusual places? Then you should comment and tell me all about it!

1st day as a Candy Striper!

Well, yesterday was my first day as a Candy striper, and it was AMAZING!! (A candy striper is a junior volunteer at a hospital)  I got to wheel patients out to their cars, deliver medical records to different stations, and take wheelchairs to GI, OB, and everywhere that  the nurses needed one. I also delivered newspapers to the patients' rooms.  I really enjoyed helping the patients and I can't wait for next time!

Interesting facts:

• The first Candy Stripers were high-school girls in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1944. 
• They sewed uniforms  from cloth  provided by their teacher - a red-and-white-striped fabric known as "candy stripe". That's how Candy Stripers got their name!
• Candy Stripers is now an international program, and anyone- retirees, high-schoolers, and middle aged people, -can participate.

My job!!

My Badge!

  Yesterday I started work. Well, not really "work." I'm a teen volunteer at ETMC. (That's a hospital in our area.)I'll be working with the Ladies' Auxiliary. I had to take a really hard quiz on patient confidentiality and information on DHHS rules, but I passed, (yay me!:-) and so now I'm official. I got my picture taken  for  a professional badge that lets me go anywhere in the hospital. This way I can take lab samples and progress charts anywhere. I also get to help wheel patients to their cars. Soon, I'm going to buy some scrubs to go with my Candy Striper smock so I look official. I'm so excited! I want to be a pediatric nurse, so being able to volunteer in a hospital environment is really fun for me. I'll be working four hour shift once a week.