Subaqua Sternal Rubs

Well, I guess every personal website has an "About Me" section, and I didn't want to feel left out Warning to the elderly and those with weak hearts… you may die of boredom before you finish reading the page - be careful!

The Birth

I was born in 1980.

Fast forward a little… (Not missing much here, or I just can't remember…)

The College Years

I spent my first two years of higher education at Union College, in Schenectady, NY.   During the Activities Fair of Freshman Orientation, I signed up with a group called UMED, (now Union College EMS)  because I was interested in medicine as a career, but mostly because they had a bunch of cool "toys" on display.  I signed up for a couple of shifs, ran a few calls, and fell in love with EMS. (Looking back, I don't know why… most calls were drunk college kids puking…) Anyways, that summer I signed up for an EMT course at a local community college. I also joined the volunteer ambulance corps that served my hometown, Clifton Park - Halfmoon Emergency Corps (CPHM)

Throughout my time at Union, I volunteered with UCEMS and CPHM.  I became a crew chief, supervisor, and Asst. Director with UCEMS, and an Ambulance Technician with CPHM (able to treat patients in the back of the ambulance by myself.)  I also have a strong interest in different languages and cultures, so I joined the German club, as I was persuing a German minor.  This afforded me the opportunity to study abroad for a semester in Vienna, Austria, through the Amerika-Institut. It was a great time, where I learned not only about the language and the culture, but of myself.  Another interest of mine is the theatre, but more specifically, the technical production of it.  At Union, I joined the Mountebanks, the oldest continuously running student theatre group in the country, and worked on the sound and lighting for several shows.

After two years at Union, I wanted to get a bit further from home, and attend a larger school with more choices in class selection. These factors, among others, prompted me to transfer to the University of Rochester. While there, I continued being active in EMS with the River Campus Medical Emergency Response Team. MERT kept me busy as I became a crew chief, Executive Board member, Director of Training, and an EMT class Instructor. I continued my study of languages at UR, taking classes in German, Spanish and American Sign Language. I also was a member of the Modern Languages and Cultures Undergraduate Council, becoming Asst. Director of the Council and Director of the German section. I had a lot of fun my senior year - it was quite comical, and now forever immortilized in the Anderson 920 Quote Board. I graduated from the University of Rochester in the May of 2002, (yet in Rochester it still managed to snow in May!), with a Bachelor's Degree in Biology, with minors in Health & Society (Public Health) and German.

Post-College

After 16 straight years of education, I decided I needed a break from school. I moved back to my hometown and looked for a job. I ended up getting a full-time job with St. Peter's Hospital Emergency Department, as a Multi-Skilled Patient Care Technician. As I had worked there before as a Unit Clerk, I had some seniority and got on the day shift. The job was not too bad most of the time, but staff cut-backs made it hard on everyone. While the lack of staff was frustrating because you always had patients yelling at you that it was taking to long, or doctors asking why this or that wasn't done yet, it actually allowed me to get more medical experience. As I was certified as an EMT, I had a higher level of training than the other ED techs, so when the department was short-staffed, I was promoted to nurse. I was assigned to triage, where I took a history/physical/vital signs and decided who was the most urgent case that would get seen first. I was also assigned as the only staff member Sub-Acute section of the ED, with the exception of the doctor seeing the patients… (But they were in no danger of dying - simple stuff like sore throats, extremity injuries, etc.) One memorable day, I was assigned to watch 3 patients on ventilators in the large resucitation room, and make sure no one died. All in all, working at SPH was a great learning experience where I got to see a lot, from AMI's door to cath lab in 12 minutes, to putting in chest tubes, to resuscitation of a 1 year old, and to drilling holes into a patients skull in the ED since the OR was full. Oh and I almost forgot, wearing yellow spaceman suits with SCBA's as part of the hospital's HAZMAT response team.

During the time I was working at the hospital, I was also volunteering with CPHM. A lot. Actually, I was the number 1 volunteer responder for 2003. Which basically meant I had no life- I was either at the hospital or the ambulance station. Well, some of that was because during this time, I took my AEMT-I class, so I needed the time on the ambulance for my internship to practice skills. I am now certified to intubate, to start IV's, draw blood, and stick a big needle in your chest to decompress it. Watch out!

Medical School

While the break was fun, after a year and a half, I felt a need to get on with my life. It had always been my desire to go to medical school. So I applied and enrolled in St. George's University School of Medicine. I am currently finishing up my first term here. While mostly enjoyable, the amount of material that is presented to you is unbelievable. We have Gross Anatomy (with cadaver lab), Biochemistry, Histology (with lab) and Embryology.   One of the professors likened the amount of material presented in each course to be the equivilant of learning two and a half new languages — and we have 4 courses, so I could have learned 10 new languages.  However this is not over years, you must learn all this material in a matter of 4 months.  Finals are in a couple of weeks so we'll see how I do…

The Future

??? As for the immediate future, after finals are over I plan to spend a week scuba diving (as the school is in the Caribbean.)  I am then flying home, and will spend the summer working at SPH and the Union College Summer Science Workshop.

For the long term future, I hope to finish medical school in 2008, and then apply for a residency in either Emergency Medicine or Trauma Surgery. Stay tuned for updates!