Post 4: First Day

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” ~ Maria Robinson, American author

N.M. House was interesting. I did not think my first day at the day program would be so interesting. I was a little nervous today to start my internship. There would be new people to meet along with the staff and the clients I would be working with. The thing that worries me the most is if I will be good at what I do. I do not want to control the clients but I also do not want to be taken advantage of. I do not have a commanding tone of voice, and in class I'm often the quite kid. However, with all my fears and worries I will make sure I cultivate myself to be one of the best care taker ever, and be a better human being.

I met A.S. at the N.M. house, and he will be my "chauffeur" during my internship. He has a great sense of humor, along with every staff members in the house. Everyone's sense of humor and helpful conversations helped me feel at ease and I started to feel pumped to get into this field. Shortly after my arrival, A.S. gave be the grand tour of the 4, and soon to be 5, bedroom house. The clients had their own bedrooms and it seemed like they had customized their own rooms with toys, photographs, and home-made decor. The rooms had personalities of their own and I was very much mistaken that rooms would only contain the bare-essentials.

A.S. introduced me to K.C. and the care that is needed to get her up and running. Her routine consists of waking up around 8:15, getting dressed, brushing hair, finding toy, brushing teeth, and sitting down to wait for the van to come back to pick her up. Her sign for "van" is how most would sign for "stop," except she does it to her side. A.S. got a coffee on his way to the day program while we got acquainted with each other.

T.B. greeted me at the program and assigned me to follow J.I. a previous intern from the DDHS program. He was working with J.C. today and I thought he was the most adorable client. He had suspenders holding up his pants, and made faces that could cheer anyone up. There is also this thing he does with his finger against his lower lips where he would make these funny noises. =)

We took J.C. and S.C. (another client) to the Y so they can get some exercise. J.I. was using some Cheez-Its as reinforcers for every five minutes he was on the trend mill. It fascinates me to see how effective ABA can be. S.C. did not want to get out of his wheel chair though. As he sat J.S. tried to get him to use the trend mill but he was not in the mood so he and J.S. sat outside the lobby to wait for us to finish. As we were heading back to the day program, we went to pick up some food for the clients. Parked outside Subways, S.C. started acting up and banged his head against the car door. J.S. stopped him and tried to reason with him. He looked like he was going to cooperate but immediately started head bagging. J.S. put S.C. into a full security hold. The staff had to call D.M. the house supervisor in and help keep him safe in the van while we drove back to the day program.

Overall, I had a really exciting day working at the N.M. House and at the day program. I never thought I would ever see nudity at any places I would ever work at. It was definitely a new experience, and I certainly have no problem with it. If anything, I feel indifferent about it but I found myself thinking about whether or not it was social protocol to look at a nude person the same as if they were clothed. Or if the situation is similar to how people stare at other people's disabilities. I am finally getting to see how it feels to work with people with ID, and learning the processes involved in caring and managing the "consumers" there.

Post 3: Orientation #4

Yesterday was awesome! Out of all the lectures, this was the most hands on. It's the highlight of the week as my instructor, S.I. was teaching CPR, restraining techniques, and first-aid. Everyone had a partner to practice the material on each other, even the CPR manikins! =P

I had CPR training before and S.I. went over the basics of how to handle a CPR manikin. My favorite part of the course was restraining my partners. S.I. had us role-play staff and client situations that can occur at work. We switched off defending ourselves from our partners' attacks, and afterwards restrained each other.  

(EDIT: P.S. likes to call this segment of orientation "Day Program Aerobics!') 

Post 2: Orientation Day #2

Yesterday, T.H. managed to get me into an online version of the training day I missed. I was so glad to hear that I was able to fulfill the rest of the training days that were left in the week. I managed to go through most of the online slides/audio presentations on the online class, which equaled out to six hours worth of material along with a quiz after each section. The topics focused on diversity, equal opportunities, pathogens, benefits, and etc. It seemed to be routine material I had gone through at a previous company I had worked for; that was unrelated to human services. 

The second day at training was somewhat awkward. I felt guilty from yesterday and every time the instructor referred to the material from the day before, it seemed like an attack on me. However, I was just feeling guilty; like a child not fessing-up to their mistake when being questioned for breaking something in the house. I apologized to the instructor during the break and hoped she did not think less of me for my absence. 

Post 1: Orientation Day

First day of orientation at the May Inst., and I already messed up. I planned my bus ride and found a host on couchsurfer for housing for the next four days of orientation training. Although I did not start off on a good start today, I feel deeply regretful that I did not get my drivers' license sooner so that I could have avoided this situation and drove myself down to Springfield.

Last night, I stayed at a friend's on campus so that I could catch the Peter Pan Bus at seven. I woke up at six and got to the bus stop a few minutes early and the bus was not there. I waited for a while and after it was ten past seven I figured the bus left early. I looked over the PVTA bus system and there was no way for me to make my orientation on time without being an hour late. I am so very disappointed, and I hope that my supervisor and the orientation staff do not take today's mishap as a reflection on future performance.