Fieldwork Day 2

Whew. Just finished day two/week one of fieldwork. It was an...interesting day. which is probably how I will describe every Tuesday and Thursday for the rest of the summer.

This morning when we got there we hung out with the COTA and then went to set up the "coffee shop" before groups began at 9. the coffee shop is just an incentive to get patients to come to morning groups. 

Kate and I were sitting in there when the patients came in and a few of them made a bee line right for us to start talking with us. One (who is NGRI-not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of malicious wounding/sexual abuse) came up to us asking if we were students, if we knew all about medicines and then started asking us what aspirin was and what it was used for..and then he showed us his arm..it was BADLY broke a while ago (he got thrown down a flight of stairs at the last hospital he was at) and it is still broken and just kindof hanging there- ick- seeing it made Kate feel a little queasy.

One of the other guys that is came up to us thinks he has x-ray vision- he draws some pretty inappropriate pictures but is pretty funny. 

After that Kate and I headed up with the OT to a meeting about the patient I mentioned on Tuesday- they were just discussion more options since she choked again yesterday..it was really interesting to hear all of the team members collaborating and throwing out different suggestions. I hope some of them work bc they seem to be at their wits end! 

After lunch, we went with the COTA to the Adult Men's floor- the creepiest floor in the whole bldg- we were like on edge the whole time.. one man was staring me up and down and so I moved so that I was sitting behind the COTA so he couldn't see me and then he moved and sat right beside Kate and I..talked a little but mainly stared at us.. we learned later that after we left they found him....hm..pleasuring himself. YUCK. I felt like I needed a shower just after him looking at us like that. The nurses told us to just stay away from him..bc he is "hypersexual".. wish I had known that before! 

I got to join in with the Leisure Group today- every day there are groups help from 9-11 and 2-4 that some of the patients can attend. Today, we played a lot of Black Jack and they seemed to really enjoy that! One guy I liked playing with he is only a few years older than me and he has only been there a couple weeks...

I wrote down a bunch of names today of patients whose charts I want to read- I just really want to know all of their backgrounds and what brought them to a place like that! It really makes me sad thinking about some of them in there- I can't imagine having to stay there even one night! But I understand that the hospital is a good place and they are getting the help they need..and hopefully they won't be there forever.

alrighty, time for work for a couple hours! Hope everyone had a great Thursday!