Friday, November 28, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
And the winner is...................................................................
The two presenters come to the microphone clutching the long-awaited envelope with the official Peace Corps invitation inside. Drum roll as the audience holds its breath.............................................
"Dear Christopher and Maureen,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Botswana for Peace Corps service beginning on April 16, 2009”
And the crowd explodes in cries of "Ooh, Ahh, Yeah, Botswana rocks ”
It has been a long time coming but our patience has been rewarded. We both think that Botswana will be an excellent choice of placement for us as this is a country with considerable financial resources and a well-developed infrastructure. It is the longest standing democracy in Africa and has a sizable middle class. We don't know where we will be stationed and it still could be somewhat rural although with our project assignments, I suspect it will be in a larger town or even a city.
My role will be as a District AIDS Coordinator, which involves significant administrative, teaching and coordination work among various levels of the ongoing HIV/AIDS effort in Botswana. Maureen will be doing capacity building with a Non Governmental Organization focusing on care for orphans and home care for individuals living with HIV.
Our invitation packet contained a number of pieces of paperwork that need to be completed including an updated resume and an Aspiration Statement, in which we spell out what personal and professional skills we bring to our primary assignment. It is clear that once your primary assignment is underway you are encouraged to undertake secondary assignments and it is within this avenue that I hope to explore my wish to develop a program for evaluation and treatment of mental health conditions within the HIV population there. So, at this point after we complete the paperwork, there is not much to be done until the last several weeks prior to our departure in April.
Our second piece of the news is that we have secured a temporary work assignment beginning in early December until mid-March at the VA Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. I will be working on the inpatient unit there, and Maureen will be doing tele-medicine providing medication and therapy for veterans at a clinic 45 miles away in Sumter South Carolina. We thought this would be a nice adventure and we plan to drive down by car shortly after Thanksgiving.
Plans are taking shape at long last!
Kip
"Dear Christopher and Maureen,
Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Botswana for Peace Corps service beginning on April 16, 2009”
And the crowd explodes in cries of "Ooh, Ahh, Yeah, Botswana rocks ”
It has been a long time coming but our patience has been rewarded. We both think that Botswana will be an excellent choice of placement for us as this is a country with considerable financial resources and a well-developed infrastructure. It is the longest standing democracy in Africa and has a sizable middle class. We don't know where we will be stationed and it still could be somewhat rural although with our project assignments, I suspect it will be in a larger town or even a city.
My role will be as a District AIDS Coordinator, which involves significant administrative, teaching and coordination work among various levels of the ongoing HIV/AIDS effort in Botswana. Maureen will be doing capacity building with a Non Governmental Organization focusing on care for orphans and home care for individuals living with HIV.
Our invitation packet contained a number of pieces of paperwork that need to be completed including an updated resume and an Aspiration Statement, in which we spell out what personal and professional skills we bring to our primary assignment. It is clear that once your primary assignment is underway you are encouraged to undertake secondary assignments and it is within this avenue that I hope to explore my wish to develop a program for evaluation and treatment of mental health conditions within the HIV population there. So, at this point after we complete the paperwork, there is not much to be done until the last several weeks prior to our departure in April.
Our second piece of the news is that we have secured a temporary work assignment beginning in early December until mid-March at the VA Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. I will be working on the inpatient unit there, and Maureen will be doing tele-medicine providing medication and therapy for veterans at a clinic 45 miles away in Sumter South Carolina. We thought this would be a nice adventure and we plan to drive down by car shortly after Thanksgiving.
Plans are taking shape at long last!
Kip
Thursday, September 18, 2008
PC throws curveball--Team delayed
Two days before we were to close our practices permanently last week, we were notified that we are not eligible for the group to which we were initially assigned. I think this was to be Ethiopia in October (although this was never confirmed). As with a number of trips leaving in Oct-Nov-Dec, this trip was delayed significantly. The basic issue has to do with a major budget shortfall in PC expenses for '07--'08 of 18 million dollars due to rising fuel/transportation costs and the falling value of the dollar overseas resulting in escalating PC expenses. While waiting for a supplementary budget request, which is in front of Congress and unlikely to be passed before a new administration takes office, expense cutbacks, trip delays and downsizing are part of an across-the-board belt tightening.
We do now now have a personal Placement Officer who is targeting a departure for us in April '09 and actively talking with the 'in-country' powers-that-be about us. They need two projects in the same location that are suitable for people such as ourselves who are "Advanced Health Degreed Professionals" and then have a place for us to live in that town. She called back while we were on the East Coast to confirm some issues with us, but we have not yet been able to actually connect by phone. I have a sneaking suspicion that I know where we will be sent, and if so, it will be a good placement and one of my top three most desirable in Africa. Since I have been wrong so many times in the past with these guesses, I will keep my speculation to myself until it is confirmed. She did say that we would be working in the HIV/AIDS area which would be fine with us. It is the most pressing need, and will involve teaching, training and oversight, not direct patient care. We hope to talk directly to her tomorrow with a firm formal invitation to follow in a few days.
Needless to say, we are now unemployed with potentially a lot of time on our hands, and have been beginning to put together some activities for the next six months. This could involve some learning (a two-week course at the Health Science Center on Tropical Medicine) some fun (a several week RV trip--perhaps to the Pacific Northwest where we have spent little time), and some temporary salaried locum tenens work in psychiatry for 3 months out of Denver. There is a crying need for psychiatrists and psych nurses in most of the States and it should be just a matter of working with a placement agency or contacting potential employers directly. All the while, we can be studying whatever language is necessary to be learned for our new country. More to come in future postings on all these items as things take shape.
We passed the torch of all our active patients to Dr Reichman who will be taking over our practices last Thursday. It was a labor of mixed feelings, but one that we both are glad is finally completed. Right now we are cleaning out the offices of our belongings and looking at sorting and shredding our patient records which occupy a full room in the basement. By law we have to keep those records of the patients seen in the last 7 years, but there are many from earlier times that could be purged.
We are going out to look at RV's this weekend to see what might fill our needs for a rental. In addition to the rental agencies, there are several private parties who are willing to rent out their vehicle on Craig's list. One great relief is that Charles, our housekeeper, is willing to wait until April to move in, so the house will be occupied. It would have been a real pain if he needed to back out because of the delay.
Yours in making lemonade out of lemons
Kip
We do now now have a personal Placement Officer who is targeting a departure for us in April '09 and actively talking with the 'in-country' powers-that-be about us. They need two projects in the same location that are suitable for people such as ourselves who are "Advanced Health Degreed Professionals" and then have a place for us to live in that town. She called back while we were on the East Coast to confirm some issues with us, but we have not yet been able to actually connect by phone. I have a sneaking suspicion that I know where we will be sent, and if so, it will be a good placement and one of my top three most desirable in Africa. Since I have been wrong so many times in the past with these guesses, I will keep my speculation to myself until it is confirmed. She did say that we would be working in the HIV/AIDS area which would be fine with us. It is the most pressing need, and will involve teaching, training and oversight, not direct patient care. We hope to talk directly to her tomorrow with a firm formal invitation to follow in a few days.
Needless to say, we are now unemployed with potentially a lot of time on our hands, and have been beginning to put together some activities for the next six months. This could involve some learning (a two-week course at the Health Science Center on Tropical Medicine) some fun (a several week RV trip--perhaps to the Pacific Northwest where we have spent little time), and some temporary salaried locum tenens work in psychiatry for 3 months out of Denver. There is a crying need for psychiatrists and psych nurses in most of the States and it should be just a matter of working with a placement agency or contacting potential employers directly. All the while, we can be studying whatever language is necessary to be learned for our new country. More to come in future postings on all these items as things take shape.
We passed the torch of all our active patients to Dr Reichman who will be taking over our practices last Thursday. It was a labor of mixed feelings, but one that we both are glad is finally completed. Right now we are cleaning out the offices of our belongings and looking at sorting and shredding our patient records which occupy a full room in the basement. By law we have to keep those records of the patients seen in the last 7 years, but there are many from earlier times that could be purged.
We are going out to look at RV's this weekend to see what might fill our needs for a rental. In addition to the rental agencies, there are several private parties who are willing to rent out their vehicle on Craig's list. One great relief is that Charles, our housekeeper, is willing to wait until April to move in, so the house will be occupied. It would have been a real pain if he needed to back out because of the delay.
Yours in making lemonade out of lemons
Kip
Saturday, July 19, 2008
I had a dream.....
It was a simple dream really--just to be medically cleared by the Peace Corps. It started last March when we submitted our completed medical paperwork to them. Time dragged on--month in month out. Then my darling, but impetuous wife said "No more. It is time to pull rank." After receiving the name of a Medical Supervisor in Washington and sending an email to him, we had immediate movement on our applications that very morning (would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that conversation). Anyway as of a 2AM email to our electronic files, we are....
CLEARED AT LAST. ALMIGHTY GOD, WE ARE
CLEARED AT LAST!!
Next step is to hear from Placement and a specific country location--hopefully within a couple of weeks.
P.S. I hope the previous user of that phrase doesn't mind my paraphrasing. You know what happened to him.
CLEARED AT LAST. ALMIGHTY GOD, WE ARE
CLEARED AT LAST!!
Next step is to hear from Placement and a specific country location--hopefully within a couple of weeks.
P.S. I hope the previous user of that phrase doesn't mind my paraphrasing. You know what happened to him.
Monday, April 28, 2008
"Out There"
OK, the notices to patients about our plans will go out on Wednesday. We have begun sending out emails and talking to people about our plans for the Peace Corps. So we are officially out in the open and everyone can feel free to discuss the situation. I was going to say that we had "come out" or "outed ourselves", but somehow that conveyed an erroneous impression. Therefore I guess it is correct to say that we are "out there," which is what a number of our friends have thought all along--that we are truly "out there" and that this decision just shows that we have gone "around the bend" and beyond hope of making it back to sanity.
Kip
Kip
Sunday, March 23, 2008
New Slide Show added
Check out the new feature at the right with some pictures that I selected from the web.
We talked to the medical Department and our medical forms are being reviewed--that could take one week or 3 months
Kip
We talked to the medical Department and our medical forms are being reviewed--that could take one week or 3 months
Kip
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Progress!
We heard today that we are both dentally cleared--the march to a nomination goes on!
In celebration I have included another video of my favorite Africa-themed music. I only have two questions--who is this guy? and why does he only own one shirt? Enjoy.
In celebration I have included another video of my favorite Africa-themed music. I only have two questions--who is this guy? and why does he only own one shirt? Enjoy.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Saturday, March 8, 2008
First Post
This is the first of what I hope will be many posts to this Blog over the course of the next 2 and ½ years. OK, the color scheme is blatantly
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