Fall Break Adventures - Final Part

Sunday, October 31st - submitted by Julie Christensen & Alex Watanabe

Today we headed ot the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The cancer institute is very close with the Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Boston, so we were able to see these hospitals while walking to Dana-Farber. At the institute, we sat in on grand rounds where one doctor presented the latest medical research to the other doctors. Today's topic was about tolerance and mixed chimerism in regards to organ transplants. Honestly, it was very difficult to understand all of the long words and acronyms, but it was fascinating to see the most advanced research in medicine presented to us. Who knows, maybe in the future we will be standing there giving those presentations!

Between grand rounds and our next group event, many of us split up to enjoy the city, catch up on sleep, or attend a lecture called Linking the Practice of Medicine to Public Health. The weather was beautiful and Boston was busy and exciting.

The next thing in the line was a dinner at the home of Dr. Rohn Friedman, a psychiatrist who works at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center. He generously provided us with very unique and delicious pizza. At first we were awkwardly eating, but as soon as we started to talk, we couldn't stop for three hours! We talked about so many things from the types of patients he sees to the impact of pharmaceutical companies on doctors to psychopathy and hypnotism. It was amazing to get so much information about a subject many of us were very interested in. At the end, Julie had a grand total of eleven pages of written notes, and we had such an intellectually stimulating time that we continued the discussion on the way home listening to the Spice Girls. We were so thankful to Dr. Friedman who answered all of our questions. Today was quite a busy day full of learning!

The group went back to IMEC to continue helping package medical suites destined for the third world. Today, we sorted and packaged items as well as built pallet suites. One team helped sort the incoming medical supplies which had no order, “rhyme,” or “reason.” They sorted through about 50 boxes of unsorted medical supplies. They had to make sure the equipment and supplies were not expired, opened, or too damaged. They also had to separate out liquids and medications. Some of the sorted boxes went directly onto the building pallets while others were sent to storage for later shipment.

The other team was building and recording pallet suites of medical supplies that had already been sorted. They built five pallets of outgoing medical supplies that were about 7’ tall and contained up to 50 boxes each. The tricky part of this building, as well as the other building days, was that none of the boxes are uniform in size, shape, or integrity. The building became like a game of Jenga. It was a balancing act between the volume parameters and trying to pack as much varying medical supplies as possible.

The medical supplies included syringes and needles, positioning kits, orthopedic braces, bandages, gloves, connecting tubes, and many other supplies.

Concluding thoughts

Visiting new places can be an amazing and eye-opening experience in itself. However, there is something even greater to be said about traveling with one’s peers for thematic enrichment, be it scholastic, athletic, or musical. As trite as all of this may sound, our fall break trip to Boston was no exception. Even so, if someone were to ask me about the “highlight” of our trip, it would be very difficult to give a specific answer. Perhaps it was the people we talked to: on the technical side, Ruben at Jefferson Medical School and Dr. Stone at Mass General were both extremely welcoming and informative, while Dr. Friedman gave insight into the mindset of a physician—the necessity to walk a line of empathy between emotional attachment and cold procedure when working with patients in light of the always-present possibility of failure. Perhaps it was our volunteer service at IMEC. Adetokumbo O. Lucas explained in his lecture on Wednesday that a little of our effort can make a world of difference for an undeveloped country. At IMEC we were able to see evidence of this in a much more powerful way than simply donating to an aid foundation. Or perhaps it was that all of this was done in the company of others who, though coming from different academic and social backgrounds, have a common interest in medicine. Each of these elements could be considered highlights. However, like a pumpkin pie, it was the combination that made this week so special. This is not to imply perfection, but this trip's lesser moments were few and did little to detract from the whole.
While this past week provided us with but a mere sip from the cup of medical knowledge, it was a supersaturated sip of new and diverse experiences. We were introduced to the technical, societal, and psychological aspects of the medical field, all the while forming new friendships through getting lost on the confusing streets of Boston. Personally, our trip re-energized me to the prospect of going into the medical field, which was especially important after spending most of my time in the conservatory this semester. I am definitely looking forward to AMSA trips in future semesters.