Today we visited nursing homes, 2 groups visiting two branches of the same company’s home. We had to wake up super early and get ready super fast. I woke up at 6:30 and made it downstairs for breakfast at 6:50. Then I sleepily made my way through breakfast and stumbled down to the ground floor with my latte in a to-go cup. When I got downstairs I handed a croissant to my roommate and then we jumped into a taxi and we were on our way to BCOP Robert Harvey House. Half our group came with us, and the other half went to a different house a little bit further away. We had a slight mishap with the taxi and went to the wrong address at first so we got it together and met up with the other cab full of people who had just pulled into the lot. 

        Once we were in the nursing home the general manager Anthea came to greet us at the door. We all signed in and walked into the lobby of the building. There we were greeted by some parrots in the lobby who were more than happy to greet us with some loud chirping. We were all ushered to the conservatory where we were able to get an introduction and had time to ask a couple of basic introduction questions. Then a nurse came in and we were split up one more time. Four people went to shadow a nurse while the other three of us got a tour of the facility. It was a beautiful facility full of very special things for the residents. The house boasts lots of animals (a dog, parrots, macaws, and goats), the rooms were outfitted beautifully, a sensory street, and lots of friendly staff all ready to be utilized by the patient. After the tour we met up with the general practitioner who works with the facility. We went on rounds with him, seeing certain patients who maybe are having problems that are new. While it was definitely tough to see some of the patients at such a vulnerable part of their lives it was nice to see how patient the medical team was with them to try and help the residents. As we went through the day it became more clear that this nursing home had lots of dementia and Parkinson’s patients and things like that. After we talked to the GP for a little the groups switched and we got to shadow a nurse. Her name was Keke and she was absolutely amazing. The way that she was able to take care of her patients and mice through the day with such ease was so impressive to me. She had a lovely stride towards her job and was super friendly and kind to us. It definitely made me feel super inspired to be a nurse and see how I can be super amazing to my patients in the future just like her. 

        After the nursing homes we went back to Birmingham City University. The first talk we received after returning was a lecture on endometriosis. This is currently defined as an inflammatory disease that doesn’t currently have a further definition. The entire extent of the disease isn’t something that the medical field has a grip on and must keep doing research to figure out more about it. In order to figure out more about the disease, the stigma of it being only a problem in the pelvis needs to be shaken out of the medical field, something that will be very hard to do. It is very hard as many doctors and medical teams don’t understand the full extent of the disease, and will go as far as to tell women that pregnancy is a good temporary solution as their period will be put temporarily on hold. 

        We heard quotes from doctors during the presentation that were very alarming. It seems like because the general practitioners don’t consider endometriosis life threatening, they don’t want to put more effort into it. This dismissal of women is very damaging to them. It can make their symptoms worse and every time they’re dismissed it’s become a worse situation. It’s gotten to the point where they have to say they’re trying to have a child to get help with their diagnosis as doctors value having a baby over an older woman’s life and quality of life. 

        Tomorrow we leave for London which is super exciting. I can’t wait to go see Mamma Mia and explore the city a little bit as I’ve never been. All of my family who have been to the city keep hyping it up to me and I’m so thrilled I’m finally getting the chance to see it myself!