I’m currently on Spring Break, but it doesn’t really feel like it.  I’ve been sick off and on throughout this semester so instead of getting to relax all week I have been making up hours at my internship.  My placement this year is at Arbor Hospice.  Overall, its been a great placement.  I have been able to work on a variety of projects.  Last semester I got to help update the organization’s Emergency Preparedness Policy Manual, work on a few grants, and attend a really interesting day-long conference about palliative care.  Palliative Care is different than hospice in that one can still receive curative treatments.  The time table for when you can receive palliative care is also different- you can receive it much sooner than hospice.  This semester I am focusing more on helping to analyze some patient data, research local grief support programs offered through other groups and helping to plan a diversity training for the clinical staff.

Today I got to shadow a social worker in The Residence (our inpatient unit) and really enjoyed this.  I liked interacting with the patients and their families.  Each patient was at a different place in their hospice journey and had different needs from the social worker.  After visiting the patients I got to talk with the social worker about her career and advice she had for me as I start mine.  Overall, it was a good day.