Practicum Information/Log
Psy498PracticumLog
site: April
DiPizio - Hospice
Activities: I was with Savannah for 2 hours tonight, Monday, March 29. It was cut short because her Mom had plans. We read, did some phonics review and practiced her spelling words. The whole family was in great spirits tonight and it was wonderful to see.
site: Hospice - April
DiPizio
Activities: Yesterday, March 25, 2004 I met with Savannah for 2.5 hours. She had a cold so she wasn't really in to studying but we tried anyway. We worked a little on cursive handwriting, reading comprehension and Egyptian history. It was great to see her. I didn't anticipate missing her as much as I did. Her mom and I set up more dates for the next few weeks!!
site: Hospice - April
DiPizio
Activities: I met with Savannah last night, Monday, March 8 for 2.5 hours. We reviewed the poetry we had done on Thursday and moved on to science, while always practicing reading. There was a lot going within the household so it was very hard for both of us to concentrate. Her sister, the patient, was doing physical therapy which included walking with crutches past us several times. Her dad was doing construction on the bathroom to make it handicap accessible as well, which caused the lights to go out more than once. It was a good time for us to giggle and chat instead of just focusing on school work for a change. I think it actually helped her to feel more comfortable with me.
I am going out of town and will not be visiting Savannah for the next 2 weeks.
site: Center for Hospice and Palliative Care - April
DiPizio
Activities: Yesterday, Thursday March 4th for 2.5 hours I worked with Savannah again. I had the opportunity to meet the whole family and it was quite an emotional experience. I have an older sister just like Savannah and seeing the whole family together made me think that they could be my family. It was quite the wake up call. Savannah and I worked on English this week, writing different kinds of poems together.
site: The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care - April
DiPizio
Activities: The volunteer office at Hospice offered me a placement working with a family in their Essential Care program and I gratefully accepted, since there is currently no children's support groups going on.
Essential Care is a unit for children in Hospice. I am working with a family who has 2 daughters. The eldest is 14 and has been diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. I am working "one on one" with her little sister, Savannah. She is 10 years old and home schooled. Since her sister has been sick she has fallen behind in her school work. Her mom has had to take care of her sister and she lost almost 5 weeks of schooling. I am meeting with her twice a week to go over some simple, basic things (ie: reading out loud, basic math skills, etc),
I met with her for the first time on Thursday, February 26 for 3 hours (with travel time). She is adorbale and we took very well to each other. She has a slight speech problem so we read out loud alternating pages and then worked on some simple math skills. It is going to be a challenge as I am not a tutor, but I am looking forward to it. She does have the option to talk to me about her sister if she feels the need to as well.
site: The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care
Activities: Last night, Monday February 9, 2004 (4 hrs) was my last training session. There was a panel of current volunteers to ask questions of and who shared stories with us. I felt like I could be sitting up there with them, but it was still beneficial to hear about their experiences. Other than that it was basically a wrap up session. We went over some final documentation and medical records.
This will be my last entry for a while as the next session at Life Transistions Center does not begin until April. I have over 100 hours completed though, so I am in good shape!
site: The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care
Activities: Yesterday, February 3, 2004 I had my third official training session for 4 hours. We had 3 speakers last night. One on infectious disease control, one on spiritual counseling and the final one of grief counseling.
site: The Center for Hospice and Palliative Care
Activities: Monday, January 26, 2004 was my second general training session for 4 hours. A social worker and Hospice nurse came in and spoke with us about communication and family dynamics. We learned about how to discuss difficult topics with patients and when good times to talk about them are.
site: The Center For Hospice and Palliative Care (Life Transitions) - April
DiPizio
Activities: I went to the Mitchell Campus on Monday, January 19, 2004 for 4 hours for some general training on all of the programs hospice has to offer. This is a 4 week training session, so I will be going every Monday for awhile. It is a way to keep volunteers up to date and maybe peak their interests into another program they did not even realize was offered.
