doing the volunteer thing
Hey all...it's been a couple days since I last posted. All is well with us. We're still waiting for some information on school and housing. Last I heard, they'd procured a cruise ship to house us. We'll see I guess. There was a meeting in Lafayette the other day, and one of our professors came to talk to us. It went really well, and we got quite a few questions answered. One of the major things that was said was that we probably won't be returning to the school until late spring. He said, though, that they probably would not have us change back to NO in the the middle of a semester; therefore, looks like I'll be in BR for the year. I'm pretty concerned about the housing situation. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they tell us. It sounds as though we won't be able to bring Cassie, our dog. I may end up splitting my time between BR and NO. Supposedly, the first years won't have classes on Monday. So, I might drive down on Tuesday mornings and stay in BR until Friday afternoon/evening and drive back to NO. That way we can keep the dog in NO. Steven will just stay there with her and the cat. That would really suck though.
Well, other than checking all the websites and forums religiously...I've been doing some volunteering. I volunteered on the 2nd floor of the Cajundome in the medical area last week. That was pretty cool...til it got shut down. Grr. People can be stupid I swear. Anyway, the Cajundome was kinda crazy, but it was definitely a neat experience. Made all my problems seem really insignificant. This week I've been working with OMH (Office of Mental Health) under my mom basically. The state has set up these mobile assessment teams and mobile crisis teams. I'm working with the assessment team. We were first supposed to locate all of the shelters in the region (about 70), and do a general assessment of them. Then, depending on what was found out about the shelter, the team goes in and assesses needs on an individual basis. This is mainly to locate all of those in need of services in regards to mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and frail elderly. It's a bit of a daunting task considering that the team has about 5 people on it, and assessments are supposed to be done on everyone in need at huge shelters like the Cajundome. And it's not like you can get on the PA system and say, "Anyone with a mental disorder, or who received services from Office of Mental Health, Office for Citizens with Dev. Disabilities, Office of Addictive Disorders, or Long-term Supports and Services please report to the table on the first floor." You also can't just randomly walk up to people and say, "Excuse me, but are you a paranoid schizophrenic? Do you need meds?" Bizarre.
I've spent alot of time at the Special Needs Shelter in Lafayette which is at the Heymann Center for all you natives:) There are a couple of different groups there, but it's all individuals with some sort of special necessary medical attention whether it be that they have a mental disorder, have health requirments (like oxygen), etc. There's a woman in there that's 101 years old!! There isn't the volume of people at this shelter like at the Cajundome (last count 2300), but it's still pretty substantial considering the needs of some of these people. I've met all kinds of neat people. There are lots of National Guard, military personnel in and out of the shelter...the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. who are also in the services. Today I got to meet some people from the Mayo Clinic...how cool is that? They're going to be traveling in these mobile medical teams to many of the rural shelters to offer medical services.
Oh, in other news...we brought our dog to the vet the other day because she seemed to be feeling bad. Turns out that she is having some problems with anxiety. She is stressed with the move and not being home for awhile, so the vet prescibed Xanax for her. He said to give it to her when she seemed anxious. Well, today, I was out at the shelter and I get this frantic call from Steven telling me to come home. Cassie and Ellie, my brother's dog, managed to get into the meds and they ate them...ALL. There were 24 doses in there...not good. Definitely had to feed them both hydrogen peroxide, but they're ok.
Well, y'all are pretty much updated with what's going on here. I'm pretty tired, so I'm off to bed:)
P.S.-Steven just read that Jefferson Parish will start to be admitted to their homes for good starting at 5am tomorrow...yay!!! Well, areas south of Airline are being admitted tomorrow (that's us), and the other areas, like Metairie, starting Saturday. Think we'll go back this weekend provided electricity and everything is on (about 80% of homes are supposed to have power back now).
Well, other than checking all the websites and forums religiously...I've been doing some volunteering. I volunteered on the 2nd floor of the Cajundome in the medical area last week. That was pretty cool...til it got shut down. Grr. People can be stupid I swear. Anyway, the Cajundome was kinda crazy, but it was definitely a neat experience. Made all my problems seem really insignificant. This week I've been working with OMH (Office of Mental Health) under my mom basically. The state has set up these mobile assessment teams and mobile crisis teams. I'm working with the assessment team. We were first supposed to locate all of the shelters in the region (about 70), and do a general assessment of them. Then, depending on what was found out about the shelter, the team goes in and assesses needs on an individual basis. This is mainly to locate all of those in need of services in regards to mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and frail elderly. It's a bit of a daunting task considering that the team has about 5 people on it, and assessments are supposed to be done on everyone in need at huge shelters like the Cajundome. And it's not like you can get on the PA system and say, "Anyone with a mental disorder, or who received services from Office of Mental Health, Office for Citizens with Dev. Disabilities, Office of Addictive Disorders, or Long-term Supports and Services please report to the table on the first floor." You also can't just randomly walk up to people and say, "Excuse me, but are you a paranoid schizophrenic? Do you need meds?" Bizarre.
I've spent alot of time at the Special Needs Shelter in Lafayette which is at the Heymann Center for all you natives:) There are a couple of different groups there, but it's all individuals with some sort of special necessary medical attention whether it be that they have a mental disorder, have health requirments (like oxygen), etc. There's a woman in there that's 101 years old!! There isn't the volume of people at this shelter like at the Cajundome (last count 2300), but it's still pretty substantial considering the needs of some of these people. I've met all kinds of neat people. There are lots of National Guard, military personnel in and out of the shelter...the doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc. who are also in the services. Today I got to meet some people from the Mayo Clinic...how cool is that? They're going to be traveling in these mobile medical teams to many of the rural shelters to offer medical services.
Oh, in other news...we brought our dog to the vet the other day because she seemed to be feeling bad. Turns out that she is having some problems with anxiety. She is stressed with the move and not being home for awhile, so the vet prescibed Xanax for her. He said to give it to her when she seemed anxious. Well, today, I was out at the shelter and I get this frantic call from Steven telling me to come home. Cassie and Ellie, my brother's dog, managed to get into the meds and they ate them...ALL. There were 24 doses in there...not good. Definitely had to feed them both hydrogen peroxide, but they're ok.
Well, y'all are pretty much updated with what's going on here. I'm pretty tired, so I'm off to bed:)
P.S.-Steven just read that Jefferson Parish will start to be admitted to their homes for good starting at 5am tomorrow...yay!!! Well, areas south of Airline are being admitted tomorrow (that's us), and the other areas, like Metairie, starting Saturday. Think we'll go back this weekend provided electricity and everything is on (about 80% of homes are supposed to have power back now).