October

I can't believe October is almost over it has truly flown by. This month, for me, has definitely been the busiest month in the program thus far. We are currently in the renal block, the fifth block of the program. The CV block ended earlier this month and only focused on med pharm. In the CV block we had a PBL and also our first SIM exercise with the med students. Coming up later this week is a PBL for the renal block. Having the CV block before renal has provided some overlap in material which has been a huge benefit to studying and preparing for the exam which is coming up in the next week. Also this month we started Molecular and Cellular Pharm.

My time volunteering has really occupied a huge portion of my schedule this month. I started volunteering at ARNO- the animal rescue of New Orleans, upon my friend and classmate, Mythili's recommendation. So far I have spent the last three weekends there helping out walking dogs and I really like the people there who are all volunteers as ARNO is only functioning due to volunteers who care about animals in our community. Following the floods in Baton Rouge, shelters like ARNO have experienced a big influx of adoptable pets and also a lack of enough volunteers to help run the shelter. So my experience there so far has truly been a rewarding one.
In addition to volunteering at ARNO I volunteered at The Terraces, an assisted living home, two days, however they do not usually need very much help. I also planted trees in the wetlands this month for an all day event sponsored by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL). It was an incredibly taxing experience but I know the efforts I and all the other volunteers put forth will make a huge difference to help stop the erosion of coastal Louisiana which is a huge issue especially in storm season.

There are only two more blocks this semester Pulmonary and GI. I am excited for everything else we are going to learn this semester and also to keep volunteering with ARNO and also volunteering at the New Orleans Alzheimer's walk that raises money for Alzheimer's research, a disease which is near and dear to my heart.

Hours this month- ARNO- 12, CRCL- 8, Terraces- 4 total for the month- 24 hours.

Ashwin & I planting trees in the wetlands for CRCL