Day 11: Downe Hospital and Band Practice

Today I had to arrive at the hospital a little early because I was going to a meeting with some of the administrators. When I got to the hospital at 8:45am, I met Valerie, who is the Secretarial Manager. We then took a taxi to Lagan Valley Hospital, which is about a 45-minute taxi ride. Upon arrival, we met up with Karen, who is the person I met the first day. We also met up with a few other managers from the Lagan Valley hospital, and I got to meet Norma, who is the person who runs both Downe and Lagan Valley Hospitals.

The meeting was basically a time to meet with the boss, Norma and go over any issues that are occurring at the hospital. There didn’t seem to be many issues at all. Honestly, I spent most of the time just listening and thinking to myself that this could have been done over the phone. I think it would have been a better use of time and it would have saved money. Maybe there is a reason that it is held in person, but it seemed quite far to drive. It was nice to be included though, because it was a good way to break up my day.

Afterwards, we headed back to the hospital and I went to sit with the Ward Clerk in Ward 2 named Kris. When I arrived, Kris had just gone on his lunch break, so I did the same. After lunch, we ran a few errands throughout the hospital. We returned to the desk to find the nurses all meeting, so Kris showed me the other office and had me prepare admission packets. I did that for about an hour and then headed back to the desk. There I admitted and discharged a few patients, which also didn’t take long. Other than that, I didn’t do much. Kris was asking me a lot of questions about the U.S. Otherwise, he told me to go on the internet, so I went on CNN.com and we talked about the oil spill and a few other things. Because there wasn’t much to do in the ward, I headed home around 4pm, but had to wait for the 5pm bus. While waiting, I headed to Subway and got their sub of the day, which was a meatball sub.

We arrived home and relaxed for about an hour and then we went to see a band through the Ulster-Scots. It was a flute band and there were drums too. It was pretty cool to hear and see them practice. We even got to hear a few songs that we recognized. Tomorrow will be a busy day because we’re headed to Dublin, so it’s time for bed.

(One of the drums the band plays)

Goodnight!

P.S. Happy 21st Birthday Katy! (For those who don’t know, she’s my best friend!)