(Image of surgery from LINK)
WHAT IS LINK?
Link is a three week opportunity that we are given as juniors at Animas High School to do an internship at a business we choose. It is a way to introduce us to the job force, and sample different prospective career paths. It is also an experience that allows people to have the opportunity to travel and gain insights about the experience of partial self sufficiency. The process is extremely insightful for students of various future exploits to discover what they do or do not like, why, and how they can proceed in the future to attain their aspirations.
Business Description
My internship took place at Alaska Shoulder and Orthopaedic Institute LLC in Anchorage Alaska. It was a mix between days in clinic and days in the surgery center observing surgeries. The environment was great, and the work was interesting.
Project
My project was something my mentor mentioned her office was lacking. She asked me to make a small, organized piece of paper that shows different shoulder strengthening exercises for post op patients and the brochure below was the product of this wish. It is based of of exercises that strengthen and help with mobility in the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, subscapularis (otherwise refered to as the SITS muscles) all of which are connected to the glenohumeral joint at the the humeral head and create a cuff that is imperative to arm movement. The strengthening of these muscles after shoulder surgery is the primary purpose of Post Op PT in shoulders so it is important that the exercises are done correctly at home, and the general knowledge shown in pamphlets like this have proven to be effective in making sure the exercises are done well.
REFLECTION
My greatest skill coming into LINK was my curiosity. I have been told numerous times and on numerous occasions that my wish to see it all and learn it all is almost insatiable and was equally likely to either get me in trouble or make me go far. My curiosity allowed me to remain engaged, even when the work wasn't all together interesting, and made me want to see everything from the pre-op patient to that same patient in surgery. It also lead to a more comprehensive and interesting relationship with my mentors, because it allowed them to tell me about there lives without the general worry that they were boring me, because I wasn't bored. My curiosity made me want to learn, and my internship allowed me to do that. That said, the most important skill I developed during LINK was patience. Not everything was interesting, and not all conversations and work were things that I could participate in due to the nature of this occupation, so I had to practice patience in between the times my curiosity was satiated. Through my practice and patience, I grew, and I also understand that while this may have been a side effect of this being an internship and not a real job, real jobs have plenty of moments of such nature as well, where the most helpful thing you can do is stand out of the way and let someone else do their job.
This organization was extremely important to the community that it served as well as the community that was formed between the staff, and that made the environment so much better than if that had not been the case. Everyone we saw was someone that they spent time and care making sure that the thing that had prevented the patients from playing with their kids, or living their life to the fullest was fixed to the highest extent that was possible, and that knowledge provided comfort to those seeking the services, and pride to to the people working there. They were perhaps the best possible internship I could have asked for, and I hope that future students will consider doing an internship of such nature.
The internship helped me plan for my next steps in college by allowing me to recognize that while I still want to help people I do not want to be a doctor, something that I was already pretty sure of going into this internship. After numerous conversations I feel that what people in less fortunate situations than myself need more than doctors is infrastructure. I want to help people, but I don't believe that becoming a doctor is the way that I should do that, for no other reason than it does not fit me as well as engineering or another field of STEM might.
This organization was extremely important to the community that it served as well as the community that was formed between the staff, and that made the environment so much better than if that had not been the case. Everyone we saw was someone that they spent time and care making sure that the thing that had prevented the patients from playing with their kids, or living their life to the fullest was fixed to the highest extent that was possible, and that knowledge provided comfort to those seeking the services, and pride to to the people working there. They were perhaps the best possible internship I could have asked for, and I hope that future students will consider doing an internship of such nature.
The internship helped me plan for my next steps in college by allowing me to recognize that while I still want to help people I do not want to be a doctor, something that I was already pretty sure of going into this internship. After numerous conversations I feel that what people in less fortunate situations than myself need more than doctors is infrastructure. I want to help people, but I don't believe that becoming a doctor is the way that I should do that, for no other reason than it does not fit me as well as engineering or another field of STEM might.
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Images
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