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One Week Later (Spongebob narrator voice)

I feel that our entire experience in Cherokee could be considered an act of generosity. We were welcomed into their organization and were able work with some amazing preceptors. Personnel like Victoria and Kayla, took time out of their busy days to speak with us, during their Joint Commission inspection, without asking for anything. There was not a single time that I felt unwelcome or as if we were a burden to those around us. As an observational experience (except for one botched IV), we never made a direct impact on the patient’s well-being. However, it may have a large impact on every patient we see from here on out. We got to see an organizational culture that seemed much more open minded and caring than some that we have had experience with. If we take a part of that culture with us, it can change how we treat every patient we treat. From what we saw, I feel that the system they are using now is capable of getting their community healthier while keeping ho
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Busy busy bees

It seems like they still have a considerable amount of prejudices held against them, substance abuse, and diabetes. The surrounding population seem to hold the most prejudices. We heard a lot about people who had grown up in the territory and did not know anything about the culture within the territory. Substance abuse and diabetes also are very prevalent within the territory. Most of the patients I saw also had diabetes. I feel that the health issues are due to deficient knowledge/health maintenance. Many of the patients I saw were overweight, had diabetes, and were not managing it. From what I’ve seen, the nurses play a huge role in education. Every nurse I saw was educating a patient for one thing or another. Some of the things included monitoring blood glucose and whatever information they needed about immunizations. From what I have seen, the patient is the center of care. Every day in the hospital, I heard something new about how to better serve the patients. The de
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Wednesday!

They want to try and keep the children within the tribe if at all possible. If the parents aren’t able/capable of raising them, then the grandparents or other family members take care of them. If that isn’t possible then other members of the community or the Cherokee children’s home would take them in. The elders seem to have the most amount of respect and authority. They have the most respect and authority because of the amount of knowledge and experience they have. Elders are seen as wise and made it to their old age through the choices they made throughout their life. They know their history and since it is not all recorded, they are the only ones who are able to pass it down. We’ve seen the same type of families in this area that we have back home (nuclear, extended, grandparent, etc), except they have a matriarch. Family and friends are the support systems within the community. They would obviously have to have some kind of hardship to begin with. To get through it and be consid
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Lots of babies!

I thought the hospital was amazing. My previous experience with peds was over the span of an 8-week course and the week-long stay in the NICU of my daughter. The clinical time definitely was a good experience, but our peds floor is pretty small and the nursery does not treat a high-level of acuity. During my daughter’s stay in the NICU, I really did not know what to look for while I was there in order to learn anything and I was more worried with her outcome than anything. I know that we were extremely stressed during our daughter’s stay and she improved relatively quickly. I couldn’t imagine the amount of hardship a family goes through when their child’s prognosis is poor. I imagine that children are scared when they are in the hospital. So much is new to them and there is almost always some amount of pain. They may regress and think that they are being punished for something they did. Some kids, on the other hand, seem to be a little bundle of hope.
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Day Three

The Tribal Council owns the hospital, but the appointed staff run it. The members of the health care team include: doctors, nurses, LPNs, CNAs, and patients. In the pod for diabetes, the patients would come in and they word perform whatever care was appropriate for that area, then refer them to whatever other area of care they need. If they were not part of the tribe, they would be stabilized and transferred to another facility. I feel that in general, they have closer relationships to their patients. They would ask how other members of the patient’s family were doing. When constructing the hospital, intentional measures were taken in order to incorporate multiple members of the patient’s family to be able gather in the room as a source of support. The actual patient care pretty much mirrored ours. Gathering vitals, doing an assessment, education, and charting seemed to be the same or very similar. They have centers for yoga, acupuncture, tai chi, and we were able to see a Native u
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Captain's Log Day 2

I actually think it is pretty nice from what I have seen. The scenery is amazing and the area seems to be well kept (not a lot of garbage lying around). There are also a lot of souvenir shops and fast food in the area.   I enjoyed learning about the creation story while we were at the museum. I also never knew that there were seven tribes, or anything about the Eastern and Western bands. I believe that family is a great support system and that you should be there for them when they need. A different view could be that I do not really practice natural remedies. There were some children participating in the play/reenactment, this will help them learn some of their history. They also have schooling available in which they are taught the history and language of their people. I have seen a lot of tattoos with patterns or other items such as animals in the area. Knowing what they stand for and seeing them often can be an influence. Respecting your elders seems to be a common thread betwe
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