So on Sunday I volunteered at the medical tents of the NYC marathon. It was an amazing experience. I am so glad I did it and I can't wait to do it again next year. I think the clinical exposure I got by working there was incredible. I saw how they managed a high volume of patients with limited resources. I even got the chance to disconnect IVs from the patients' arms. I spent half of the time working inside the acute care area of the tent, mainly taking vitals (and disconnecting IVs a couple of times!) I spent the rest of the time working at the finish line. I was scanning the crowd after they crossed to see if they needed to visit the medical tent or if they needed salt to ease their cramps. I felt like I was a part of something a lot larger than me and it was mindboggling. I even got to see the first place winners run through the finish line! I think overall it was a great experience, both medically and just in general. One of the things I noticed and was extremely moved by was the fact that the runners would always ask me my name when I helped them. They would ask me my name and then address me by it when they would thank me. It was amazing how touched they were by what little I did for them. I mean they were never going to see me again...who cares what my name is. But most of them did stop to ask and call me by it. That made my heart smile =)
Clearly after volunteering at the marathon I added a new life goal. I'm going to do a marathon one day! Seeing all of those people accomplish such an amazing feat really inspired me. One of the biggest motivators was just looking at the assortment of people running this thing. There were people who were not star athletes, people who were old, people who weren't exactly fit. If they could do it I don't have any excuse. Someday I will run (or walk haha) a marathon!
Okay that was a great break. Now on to more academic things...more later =)
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