Extra Blog Caption 3

This is another thyroidectomy I assisted in, they are uncommon to find in first world countries because they are treated usually at the first sign of a growth in the neck

Extra Blog Caption 2

This is me being taught and then executing a lumbar puncture with the goal of administering anesthesia through the spinal comumn

Extra Blog Caption

This is me assisting in a thyroidectomy, in addition to assisting during, I got to perform an uninterrupted sub Q suture

Senior Project Reflection

(1) Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Block Presentation and/or your senior project? Why?
I am proud of my activity, as i think it was very unique and well executed for something that complicated in theory. 


(2) Questions to Consider

a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Block Presentation (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

b.     What assessment would you give yourself on your overall senior project (self-assessment)?

AE       P          AP       CR       NC

(3) What worked for you in your senior project?
I think my presentation worked a lot better than I thought it would as far as speaking. 
(4) (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would have you done differently to improve your senior project if you could go back in time?
I would have taken part in more operations during my independent component in the Philippines.
(5) Finding Value
How has the senior project been helpful to you in your future endeavors?   Be specific and use examples.
Due to the ability to go on the medical mission, i have gained experiences that will undoubtedly help me when it comes time to put them into practice again in the future... .suturing...

Mentorship

Content:

LIA Response to blog:

    Literal

·     Log of specific hours with a total and a description of your duties updated on the right hand side of your blog

Done

·     Contact Name and Mentorship Place

Robinson V. Baron MD. Cirtus Valley Hospital

    Interpretive

     What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I gained throughout my experiences with my mentor would be my reasurance of character. There have been many trials agianst my morals these past few years, some of which I have failed, but this mission served to remind me that I enjoy helping people, I want to do it, not only because of the training and learning I receive, but because with the not so happy things and events I hear about taking place everyday, the humbled looks on everyones faces and grattitude restored my faith in humanity. 

   Applied

     How has what you’ve done helped you to answer your EQ?  Please explain.

The mission taught me what could be done to further answer my essential question, but more so provided me with leads upon which I explored upon my arrival home. For example, my third answer of donating supplies came directly from seeing just how important tools are when a mission takes place, and how much the lack of those tools can hinder the work we are trying to do. 

Exit Interview

Content:

(1) What is your essential question and answers?  What is your best answer and why?

My essential question is "What is the best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to people who  live in poverty in the Philippines?". My first and best answer is "The best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is by Teaching local practitioners to perform specific surgeries themselves". My second and third answers are "The best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is for local medical personnel to give back to their communities in the form of said medical aid." and "The best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is by donating tools and supplies that local hospitals can use to treat patients". The reason that my answer one is better than my other two answers is because it has many tried and tested organizations that prove teaching to be an extremely effective way for performing medical missions, as well as the fact that since only doctors are allowed to do anything above basic medical care, and because there are so few of them, expanding the range to include more medical personnel would greatly increase the amount of people who can help those in poverty. The other thing that makes my answer one my best answer is it does not matter how much doctors want to help people or if they have all the tools in the world if they do not know how to perform some procedures in the first place. The thing that makes my answer one worthy of being a quality answer can be seen in the example of Dillan Ellegala's organization Smile Train. Smile Train is based around the philosophy of teaching a man to fish rather than giving him one, and after starting this organization based around teaching local medical personnel instead of doing the work for them, the organization was able to not only increase the amount of people able to be seen on an annual basis, but by making surgeries more common it also greatly reduced the amount of money each operation cost. The most important statistic proving my answer as a quality one could be found with the comparison of how many patients Smile Train and a conventional mission that performs the same kind of procedure, will help this year. While the conventional mission will go on to perform under ten thousand surgeries this year, Smile Train will go on to perform over one hundred and twenty thousand, proving teaching to be a highly effective method. 

(2) What process did you take to arrive at this answer?

a. My best answer came very quickly to me, during the first couple of research checks at the beginning of senior year. I came into my topic of medical missionary work with the bias that there must be a more effective way of doing them, as I knew from past research that dependency and other issues in quality of care arise from a conventional medical mission. Using my bias, I aimed specifically at finding an organization that used a different method at performing a medical mission, at which point I stumbled across  The Post and Courier's "One Brain at a Time, Part 2: Are Medical Missions Doing More Harm Than Good?", Which talked about a doctor who theorized after taking part on a conventional mission that there must be a more effective way of producing a medical mission. This doctor's idea was to teach local medical personnel to perform medical care themselves, so it could be performed year round. Long story short, his idea worked, and at that moment I knew that this article and this idea of teaching local medical personnel fit my essential question so well that I did not think I would come across another answer so better tailored to it. Fast forward months later, and I was right, While my other two answers are very essential in increasing the effectiveness of a medical mission, looking at the statistics and specifics of doctors in the Philippines has proven why teaching would be the most effective method to improving upon the conventional medical mission. 

(3) What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

a. One problem I can remember facing with my interviews is timing and scheduling. I found that many of the people I wanted to interview had very tight schedules and it was difficult finding a spot where we could sit down and have a deep interview on a topic that really demanded a lot of time and in depth discussion. The resolution came with better time management and scheduling appointments more ahead of time. Another set of issues that I faced had to do with my independent components 1 & 2 which was myself taking part on a medical mission to the Philippines for two weeks. The first and most specific problem came during an assist on a minor case with one Dr. Bautista, a regular local doctor who has ben taking part on the mission for many years. What happened was that Dr. Bautista experienced some issues during the case that led to the patient bleeding heavily, and in a sort of hurry, asked me to hand him a specific tool which I had never had heard of, so because I was the only one scrubbed up and had no idea what tool the doctor was talking about, Dr. Bautista had to literally stop what he was doing and left the patient bleeding while he grabbed the tool. I got yelled at, and I understand, it was a high stress situation and should have been better prepared if I wanted to assist so badly. The solution for this issue came with me spending the next few hours learning the names of the basic tools I would need to be prepared to hand whoever I was assisting. A more academic problem that came with the medical mission had to do with getting back into the groove of school upon my arrival back from the Philippines. I had an idea that it would happen, as the same situation occurred back freshman year when I took part on the same medical mission, and I just find that coming home from such a high stress and high focussed environment where everything is unpredictable, back into the normal day to day life of school, its a hard transition that I have not been able to master. The solution to this issue was the attempting of telling my teacher far ahead of schedule during my junior year so that I would make up anything I would miss, and while it did work better than my freshman year, I still had a very difficult time adjusting to life back home again. 

(4) What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question and why?

a. My two most significant sources have to be my independent components (1 & 2), and the article that helped lead me to my first and best answer, which was posted by The Post and Courier titles "One Brain at a Time, Part 2: Are Medical Missions Doing More Harm Than Good?", in which it described Dillan Ellegala, a doctor, who after taking part on operation smile, theorized that a more effective way in performing medical missions can be done by teaching local medical personnel to perform medical care themselves. The reason why my independent component was such a significant source to me was because while all of my answers are realistic, actually performing a medical mission takes so much more than realistic answers, I found that anyone I interviewed had the same belief that the most important way a medical mission can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is not so much by teaching or offering material goods as help, but rather having compassion to help whoever they could, and while that answer may not be as credible as the ones I chose, my personal beliefs are that there needs to be so much more involving character for a medical missionary to do all they can do. 

Be prepared with evidence and specific examples to support any response.  It is also significant to cite sources as you explain.

Independent Component 2

LITERAL
(a) Statement saying: “I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
1. I, Robinson Baron, affrim that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work. 
(b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
2. The source that helped me complete my independent component would have to be the medical mission trip I took to the Philippines. 
(c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
3. Done
(d) Explanation of what you completed.    
I went to the Philippines and assisted in various major and minor surgeries, performing tasks ranging from simple to complicated sutures, to lumbar punctures, administering anesthesia, and making basic cuts and incisions. 

INTERPRETIVE 
Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  

Suture machine!

APPLIED
How did the component help you answer your EQ? Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped.
a. This component allowed me to gain first hand insights and back up the research answers that I had found previously, and on top, helped teach me that even though the answers I gave are black and white for realistic purposes, that it takes something more, like understanding and compassion, to do what medical missionaries do.

Blog 18: Third Answer

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

Just like you did for answer 1 and 2 post your:

• EQ 
• What is the best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines? 
• Answer #3 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*
• The best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is by donating tools and supplies that local hospitals can use to treat patients. 
• 3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)
• While government hospitals are well equipped, 60% of hospitals in the Philippines are privately owned, and their biggest issue is inadequate facilities. 
• During the mission I took place on, I found out that we had designated amounts of supplies for each place we went to, and that anything left over at the end of our time at each place was donated back to those hospitals
• Most of the supplies we used on the mission was donated by the hospitals my grandfather works at or even bought by him and the rest of the medical team out of pocket. 
• The research source (s) to support your details and answer
• My medical mission experience
• http://www.expatforum.com/articles/health/health-care-in-the-philippines.html 
• Concluding Sentence
• While encouraging local doctors and medical personel to give back in the Philippines is important, what is probably more important is making sure those medical personel has the equipment they need to be able to give back to their community. 

*Write your answer like you would write a thesis statement.  Please don't give us one or two words or start your sentence with "by".    Thanks!

Fourth Interview Questions

Content:

Post 20 open-ended questions for approval you want to ask an expert in the field of your senior project.  The focus of your questions should be on your many answers.   

1. How did you get involved in the annual medical mission?

2. What do you think is the most successful part of the mission?

     b. and is there anything that can be done to improve it?

4. What are your qualifications in the medical field?

5. What are the biggest problems that need to be addressed about the mission?

6. How can teaching local medical medical personel improve the success of the mission?

7. What do you know about Dr. Bautista?

   b. What do you think about Doctors or nurses who spend their time giving back to their community in the form of local care like Dr. Bautisita?

   c. Does this propose any major issues? 

   d. How can something like this be applied to other third world countries or even the United States? 

11. What do you think is the most important quality needed to be a medical missionary?

12. What is the most important aspect of the medical mission itself?

13. what is the best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines? 

14. What is your goal when you take part on these missions? 

   a. What do you think shod the goal of the mission itself?

16.  What are some other ways we can provide medical aid to those in the Philippines? 

17. How much work goes into actually planning and coordinating the mission?

18. What are the benefits to you by taking part on this mission?

19. What is your favorite part of the mission?

20. What is your least favorite part of the mission?

   a. Can that be fixed or improved?

22. What do you think about the quality of care we give? 

If you have already interviewed someone two times, you aren't allowed to interview that same person without House teacher approval.

The interview itself is not due till Friday April 11 to turnitin.com.   However, we want to give you as much time as possible, so we are asking you to complete the blog now. Remember that in addition to turning in the interview, you also need to turn in the verification sheet to your House teacher.

Examples of open-ended questions.  Click here.

Advisory Meeting #2

Content:

Just like you did for answer 1 and the objectives for Purther's textbook work for answer 2 post:

EQ

What is the best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines?

Answer #2 (Write in a complete sentence like a thesis statement)*

The best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to those living in poverty in the Philippines is for local doctors to give back to their own community.

3 details to support the answer (a detail is a fact and an example)

a. One of the concerns one would have with third world health care would be the quality, but the Actual trained medical personnel in the Philippines is actually high quality, in fact, most nurses in the United States are Filipino

b. Most of the hospitals in the Philippines are privately owned (60%) in their respective communities, meaning that most hospitals are owned by the doctors and staff themselves, which can lead to those hospitals giving back to their communities more, an example of this would be Dr. Bautista, who owns his own hospital and purposely undercharges patients so they can afford care more. on top of this, most of the year he takes part on medical missions to assist in other private owned hospitals in aiding other's communities.

c.Communities that look out for each other are naturally more successful, an example of this would be the neighborhood watch of North Whittier, and after one new individual introduced the idea of walking around at night to help prevent crime, the graffitii in that particular area dropped 95 percent.

The research source (s) to support your details and answer

"Medical Missions: What Makes Us Think We're Qualified?", And my medical mission experience, and an article on the San Gabriel Valley Tribune on neighborhood watchsuccess for communitites.

Concluding Sentence
Overall helping one's own personal community is important in helping it stay healthy.

*Write your answer like you would write a thesis statement.  Please don't give us one or two words or start your sentence with by.    Thanks!

On Friday 2/28 for Advisory #2, you will be presenting what you have from this blog.  The presentation is more like a share-out and should not last longer than 2 minutes. You don't need a visual.   

Extra Blog: Palawan

The place in Palawan that we were situated in was a compound itself, and so it was a very homy atmosphere the whole time we were there. I think the most notable thing about Palawan was my last case, which really reaffirmed my thoughts about going into the medical field. It was the last case I did on the last day we were there, it was a thyroidectomy, and after assisting in small parts throughout the case, I was given the opportunity to close up the initial incision. Since it was a deep cut, there were two sets of sutures necessary to close the wound, the first was the re attachment of the fatty layer, which was a sub Q uninterrupted, which was easy enough as aesthetics were not an issue here, the second set however, the "hollywood stitch", required much more patience and accuracy. The second set took a little longer, but by the end of it I knew from what people were telling me about my work that I do have a talent for this field, and while I have no picture evidence, there really wouldn't be anything to capture, because you would not be able to tell there was an incision in the first place!

Extra Blog: Surigao

I think Surigao was my favorite place when we went to the Philippines for the medical mission. Surigao is known for being one of the best places in the world to go surfing, and I think due to this fact, there were a lot of western influences around the vicinity that we were staying, the most notable being a pizza place, and when every meal consists of fish, you learn to appreciate what you are missing out on a little more. Besides the food, The hotel we were staying at was beautiful, it was not like a commercial hotel, but instead, a family run organization that really made you feel comfortable, not only that but the hotel was situated right on the ocean so we had a great view to look out onto. For much of the time I was in Surigao I travelled to a mining compound where all the minor surgery was done. Below is a picture of just how beautiful this place was.

Extra Blog: Taguig

Taguig was the first leg of the 2014 medical mission where we spent four days performing on hundreds of patients through three ways: Major cases, Minor cases, and Pharmaceutical care. Taguig is located right outside of Manila so we still had a major city feeling while we were there. Being in a major city one would think that the people there should be relatively healthy compared to more rural parts of the Philippines, but the sad part was that I could not see and variance in the amount of people between the three cities, meaning even the major parts of the Philippines had a lot of poverty. The most notable thing for me experience wise while I was in Taguig would have to be when I was given the opportunity to perform a spinal tap, it was definitely an experience I am grateful to have had and while I hate needles going into me, it was surprisingly just as bad putting them into other people. Below is a general picture of what the city of Taguig looks like.

Independent Component 2 Approval

Content:

Please review the component contract at page 12 of the senior project packet.   The independent component 2 is an opportunity for you to add a dimension of creativity and/or an additional outlet for research.  The goal of the component is for you to explore your answers in more depth.  On Friday April 25, 2014, you will be turning in the following to your blog to prove completion of this component:

·       Log of hours on an digital spreadsheet (with total number of hours included)
·       Evidence of the 30 hours of work (e.g. transcript, essays, tests, art work, photographs) as digital artifacts
·       LIA
 The senior team expects that your log will be on the right hand side of your blog with your WB, independent component log 1 and mentorship log.   In addition to this,  we expect that you will be able to prove the total 30 hours of work by submitting evidence to the blog by the due date. For this blog post and approval, please answer the following questions.

1.  Describe in detail what you plan to do for your 30 hours.

a. I plan to volunteer in the E.R at citrus valley hospital, where I wish to extend my experience in the medical field and also coincide with my potential answer two which has to do with helping people at home first.
2.  Discuss how or what you will do to meet the expectation of showing 30 hours of evidence.

a. Based on previous experience, my duties in the E.R are pretty basic, I need to clean beds, take vitals, hook up patients to a monitor, bring them food, and overall talk to them and make them feel comfortable.
3.  And explain how what you will be doing will help you explore your topic in more depth.

a. Like I mentioned earlier one of my potential second answers has to do with local care before needing to travel internationally, so actually putting it into practice should give me good insight as to wether or not it works.
4.  Post a log on the right hand side of your blog near your other logs and call it the independent component 2 log.
ok
Your answers to the questions should be supported with details and examples for the senior team to understand what you plan to do.   Once we review your Blog Post 15, your house teacher will discuss with you the approval of your plan.  If it is approved, please start working on it.  If it is not approved, your house teacher will explain why.  It is your job to address the concerns so you can get your component approved.

Independent Component 1

Title:  Independent Component 1
Label:  Independent Component
Due Date:  Friday 2/7 at 8AM
Content:  

• LITERAL
  (a) Statement saying: “I, student name, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
• I, Robinson Baron, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.
  (b) Cite your source regarding who or what article or book helped you complete the independent component
• My grandfather, Robinson V. Baron, M.D , and the 2014 medical mission is what helped me compete my independent component.
  (c) Provide a digital spreadsheet (aka log of the 30 hours).   Post it next to your mentorship log.
• done
• (d) Explanation of what you completed.    
• I went on a medical mission for two weeks traveling through three cities assisting in minor and major operations. Roughly, I can estimate I took part in around 50 minor cases and around 10 majors.
• INTERPRETIVE 
  Defend your work and explain how the significant parts of your component and how it demonstrates 30 hours of work.   Provide evidence (photos, transcript, art work, videos, etc) of the 30 hours of work.  
  
• Basically, minor cases can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a little over an hour with all prep time included, major cases can take several hours depending on the complexity of the case... there were hundreds of people in each city we went, and so there was no shortage of work, I went way above and beyond the thirty hour minimum, and have may pictures to prove it. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• APPLIED
  How did the component help you understand the foundation of your topic better?  Please include specific examples to illustrate how it helped. 
• This mission helped me see what articles couldn't, by being paced in the situation myself I was exposed to the poverty and the people who could not afford basic medical care, and while one of my first answers was to sway away from an actual medical mission because the research I found supports data that they cause more harm than good, I know that in the short term, those people would not have gotten the help they needed, and I am ultimately glad I was able to take part. The people there never asked for anything, and were just happy to be receiving free care. 

Grading Criteria 

• Log on a digital spreadsheet 
• Evidence of 30 hours of work 
• LIA submitted to blog

Lesson 2 Reflection

Content:

1. Positive Statement

What are you most proud of in your Lesson 2 Presentation and why?

a. I am most proud of the fact that when it came to talking about something I actually had some sort of passion for, all the words and things I wanted to say came out easier, and while there was some confusion about making time, I actually had to cut parts of what I wanted to say out so I could keep time for my activity.

2. Questions to Consider
       a.     What assessment would you give yourself on your Lesson 2 Presentation (self-assessment)?

       AE       (P)          AP       CR       NC

       b.     Explain why you deserve that grade using evidence from the Lesson 2 component contract.

Honestly I think I deserve a P because I know I met all the basic requirements that were needed and I believe for being the first person who went, that my presentation was clean and clear, and set a standard for the next presentations after.


3. What worked for you in your Lesson 2?

My content really worked for me in this presentation, there was never a point while I was speaking that I felt that I was running out of things to say or ever left a lul where I was not speaking at all.

4.  (What didn't work) If you had a time machine, what would you have done differently to improve your Lesson 2?

I think I would have designed my powerpoint better so that it would have made things even cleaner, I don't think what I had was bad, but I want to improve little things to get closer to an AE

5. Finding Value
What do you think your answer #2 is going to be? 

I was thinking about something one of my articles said about how missionaries should stop focussing so much on third world countries when we have so much we can still do here at home, so I think my answer will have something to do with that. 

January Extra Blog

This week is pretty hectic, I leave for the Philippines medical mission on thursday and I still have so many things I need to do! packing, taking care of the pets, lesson 2, wrapping up the work I'm missing while I'm gone, and a bunch of other things I need to do to help prepare for the mission, like the group packing taking place later this week. Something I want to note for future reference is how much more work goes into an independently run organization like this because while things like Doctors Without Borders has people who's job it is to organize missions to make sure everything goes smoothly, the doctors who take part on this mission must juggle their regular jobs as well as plan everything themselves. That hard and extra work is rewarded though in the form of the ability to help many many more people and many more types of ailment over a shorter amount of time due to the independency. Thats pretty much all I need to note for now.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

Content:

*Important to note that for my third interview I planned on interviewing one of the doctors who lives in the Philippines while they are taking part on the mission, that way I can get the perspective of someone on the other end of the medical mission, in that sense, I have tailored my questions to be applicable to that nature. 

1. What is the best way a medical missionary can provide medical aid to people who live in poverty in the Philippines?

2. How did you first get involved in this medical mission organization?

3. How effective do you think these missions are? 

4. What aspects of this mission do you think are unique?

5. Do you think anything can be changed to improve this mission?

6. What is it like living in a country where medical aid is necessary to treat its patients? 

7. What makes you proud to be a part of this mission?

8. What do you think about the idea of teaching local doctors to perform surgeries so it can be done year round? (want an opinion on one of my potential answers)

9. What is your ideal form of a medical mission?

10. What do you do when you are not performing medical missions?

Blog 11 Mentorship 10 hours check

Content:

1.   Where are you doing your mentorship?
I am doing my mentorship on various medical missions to Mexico leading up to the final major mission to the Philippines. I am also volunteering at the E.R at Citrus Valley Hospitals, although my training and preparation with my mentor has been pulling my focus on the mission, so I will be resuming my focus on the hospital once we return from the mission as there won't be anymore missionary work to do. 
2.   Who is your contact?
Robinson Duque Baron, M.D. 
3.   How many total hours have you done (total hours should be reflected in your mentorship log located on the right hand side of your blog like your WB)?  
21 
4.   Summarize the 10 hours of service you did.
The ten hours I have done since the Mexico mission have mainly to do with preparation for the medical mission this month. I have been taught to apply sutures and will hopefully be able to apply them on a real person when the time comes for it.
5.   Email your house teacher the name of your contact and their phone number confirming who they should call to verify it.  
O.K
*You need 50 hours plus the original 10 in the summer by May.   The original 10 from the summer do not count toward the 50.  By the end of the year, you will have 60 hours counting that original 10.

Senior Project, The Holiday

Content:

1.  It is important to consistently work on your senior project, whether it is break or we are in school.  What did you over the break with your senior project?
a. over the break, I was taught how to suture an incision and apply stitches, something that I will be expected to do when I take my trip to the Philippines later this month. I have included a couple pictures of my first few stitches for evidence, I did not find it graphic myself, but just a warning.

2.  What was the most important thing you learned from what you did and why?  What was the source of what you learned?


a. The most important thing that came from learning how to suture would be preciseness, and by that I mean that when I am making a stitch, there's a part of it that involves only going in halfway through the top layer of the skin, and the problem with that is if I put the needle in too deep, i run the risk of overlapping the skin and making a bad scar, on the other hand, if I go too light, i can tear the skin completely and the stitch would not do its primary job, which is to hold the skin together where there has been a cut. The source of this came from trial and error when practicing my stitching. 

3.  If you were going to do a 10 question interview on questions related to answers of your EQ, who would you talk to and why?
a. At this point, there are several doctors in the Philippines that have acted as liaisons over there ever since my grandfather started the mission, so they would have the best possible perspective being directly involved in the missions and being located in a country where they need that kind of medical help