FEBRUARY CHECK-IN

Monthly community service hours completed: 1
Cumulative semester service hours completed: 1

This month, my community service experience and classroom learning connected in a way that truly embodies the spirit of New Orleans, especially during the Mardi Gras season. I had the pleasure of attending an orientation event for The Green Project, a nonprofit organization that functions like a thrift-store version of Home Depot. They collect donations from across the city, such as paint, doors, lumber, screws, etc., and resell them at a highly discounted price. This service they provide is essential for the community, as it supplies materials that are much needed in the harsh New Orleans environment and are otherwise inaccessible due to the high prices of traditional home-improvement stores. Due to a very busy February, I was only able to attend the orientation for volunteers, but they hold biweekly shifts, and I plan on participating more this upcoming March.

This sense of collective support exemplified by The Green Project immediately made me draw a connection to the spirit of Mardi Gras I also experienced in New Orleans this month. While Mardi Gras is typically associated with celebration, throwing beads, and parades, altogether it represents community. Neighborhoods come together to participate in traditions that have been around for generations, share food, and look out for one another. Celebration and community support go hand in hand in New Orleans, and the more I participate in the community, the more I appreciate the opportunity to live here.

On a different note, the material we have been learning in class this month has also resonated with me. At the beginning of February, we learned about insulin therapy for Type I and Type II diabetes, along with its side effects and risks. On one occasion during my time as an EMT, I responded to a call late at night for a patient who was experiencing altered mental status. The reporting party said this patient had a history of psychiatric issues and assured us that this behavior was common; they called us only as a formality. Luckily, I had the foresight to check the patient’s blood glucose levels and quickly discovered that she was dangerously hypoglycemic. It turns out that the staff at the facility responsible for her medications had given the patient the wrong dose of insulin that night before bed. After learning about insulins in class, I assume that the staff at the facility had given the patient her prandial insulin dose instead of her basal insulin dose. Since the patient had not eaten in a few hours, her blood glucose dropped so low that she started to lose consciousness. I am glad we were able to get that patient the help that she needed, but I also find it extremely rewarding to reflect on these experiences with the knowledge I have gained from this program. Perhaps in the future, I can advocate for more EMT education in endocrine disorders and be a voice that leads to improvement in patient outcomes in an emergency setting.