Houston 2 - Health

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Blog #2: Days 2 & 3

January 12th and 13th, 2015

 

Monday began with orientation at Bering Omega.   The orientation leader Drew greeted us with enthusiasm and excitement at about 9:45am.  Even though we already had our own breakfast, Drew was kind enough to bring us a hotdog-donut hybrid of Czech origins called the kolache.  After two hours, Drew showed us around the Omega hospice house.  To our delight, there was a fat cat named Bob and a cute fluffy dog named Zoey.  Bering Omega also has a dental clinic and daytime center strictly for HIV patients, both of which have exceptionally kind and passionate workers.  After meeting these workers and a very energetic and goofy resident named Robert, we were on our toes for fear of getting them run over by his scooter.  At the same time, the tour left us excited and ready to serve these wonderful people for the week.

 

Once the tour was complete, we had some more free time on our hands to explore the wonderful city of Houston.  After some debate, we decided to check out the Downtown Aquarium.  We fed stingrays, saw a plethora of exotic fish, and to our surprise we stumbled upon a great white…tiger.  After getting to know Truman's cousins a little better, we climbed 60 flights of stairs to get an aerial view of the city at JP Morgan-Chase's observation deck (LOL no we took the elevator).

 

Thanks to the Alumni Association of Mizzou, we had a scrumptious meal of lasagna, salad, and more thanks to generous alumnus Patty Wolfe.  She was so hospitable and welcoming that she let us watch the College Football National Championship game at her house.  Left full and happy, we were ready to take on the next day and crash on those ever-so-"comfortable" air mattresses.

 

The next morning, we split up into three groups to take on the hospice house, dental clinic, and daytime center.

 

Dalton, Erica, Ryan, and Kaitlyn spent the day at the hospice house consisted of miscellaneous cleaning and hanging out with the patients.  Getting to know the residents in this environment was extremely humbling and put a face on a disease that tends to be stereotyped and stigmatized.  The day consisted of painting the walls the wrong shade of beige, playing card games with Don and Lester, having conversations with (another) Don, and watching Spongebob with the residents.  Working at the hospice house emphasized how each act of kindness, no matter how small, truly is crucial in maintaining the morale of people in such fragile states of being.

 

Over at the dental clinic, Nicola, John, and Lexi started off with tons of filling and helping out the office staff, later on we weren't quite sure what would be in store for us. To start the morning we began by confirming all the appointments for the following day. We filed papers and got the appointments ready for the next week. The next half of our day was much more patient-staff interactive; as we sat down for lunch we were surrounded by many of the staff. We shared laughs, jokes, and even got some personal insight on the life of being a dentist and what our career choices could mean for our one day family lives. Many of the staff offered for us to shadow with them, so the next half of our day consisted of teeth extractions, root canals, and fillings. None of us had ever shadowed a dentist before so we found it very rewarding to be able to see these women at work. We were fortunate enough to observe a specialist in endodontic work and she explained to us her process to becoming a dentist and how rewarding it was for her. She only volunteers at the clinic twice a month so we were very lucky to be able to shadow her. As our day came to a close weren't ready to leave and saying goodbye to the staff was like saying goodbye to a whole new group of great friends.

 

Kelly, Iesha, Julia, Meghan, and Emily spent the day doing arts and crafts and conversing with the clients at the day treatment center. The day center is a program that exists to provide individuals with a welcoming and nurturing environment where they can participate in activities, socialize, go on fieldtrips, and enjoy a nice meal or two. Kelly and Iesha began the morning washing dishes, and then we jumped right into candle making and painting. We were extremely humbled by how welcoming the clients were, and we quickly made many new friends, including the wonderful artist Arturo. Arturo inspired us with his passion for service, companionship, and art. Some of us were lucky enough to return home with an Arturo original. Our day proved to be insightful and rewarding, and we look forward to what is to come.

 

Upon returning to the church we were greeted with another wonderful dinner, compliments of the Houston Alumni Chapter.  We were joined by the other Houston MAB trip and were able to exchange stories about our trips so far, and meet some awesome and generous alumni. They were all very supportive of our journey so far and looked forward to updates on our trip.  Pizza (donated by an alumni and Papa John's), salad, chips, cookies, and some delicious brownies made for another awesome meal and many food comas.

 

Time to relax, unwind, play some Cards Against Humanity, and get ready for another fulfilling day tomorrow.

 

Houston Hotties, out.