Uncategorized

Day 7: 

Today I got the opportunity to sit in on more appointments relating to hearing aids and cochlear implants. This was interesting because we got to see the audiologists diagnose the issue, and then they’d explain how they were going to fix it. However, the coolest thing about today was we got to go in Dr. McElveen’s Temporal Bone Lab! We got to look at human temporal bones under microscopes and practice using surgical instruments. I’ve done dissections in the past, but I’ve never dissected anything from a human! 

Day 1: Research! 

On Monday, my internship fell through and so I spent the day researching. I read about new medical devices, such as the da Vinci Robot surgical device, and watched videos of it being used. I watched other videos of surgeries; they were fascinating! 

Day 3: Day on an Ambulance

Today I did a ride-along with Cary EMS. We had all sorts of calls ranging from respiratory failure, to seizures, to a stroke. Luckily all patients were well taken care of and will be fine. It was great watching the first responders take action, and on the less critical patients, they explained to me what was happening. By the end of the shift I got to even help out a little! Nothing major, just connecting tubes and grabbing equipment, but I was still glad to be included!!! 

Day 4: That’s One Large Thyroid! 

Today I shadowed Dr. Berlin, an endocrinologist. We saw patients constantly! They were all there either for diabetes or a thyroid problem. He taught me about the different types of diabetes and how to treat them, as well as about the function of the thyroid and some of the different diseases of the thyroid. About half way through the day, he turned to me and said, “You have a very large thyroid! Let’s take a look at it.” He did an ultrasound and it turns out that I have Hosimotos Disease which is an enlarged thyroid; I had no idea! 

Day 5: sorry, I Can’t Hear You

Today was our first day at Carolina Ear and Hearing Clinic and it was great!! We got a tour of the facility, and then got to learn how to use some of the equipment. We learned how to do a full hearing test and practiced doing them on each other. We also got to sit in on patients appointments. One patient accidentally wore his hearing aid in the shower, so I got to help the doctor take apart and trouble shoot the hearing aid. We also got to try on hearing aids with ear plugs so we could hear what it sounds like to hear through hearing aids! Overall it was a great day!!

Day 6: It’s a Great Day to Save Lives

Today we got to go to the OR at Duke Raleigh Hospital!!! It was SO exciting!! This was my first time in an OR and I loved it. We got to stand around the patient as Dr. McElveen performed the surgeries. We could watch him make the initial incisions and suture it up at the end in person, and the actual procedure was projected on TV monsters around the room that we could watch. I spent a lot of time talking to a Nurse Anesthetist who explained to me the different things Dr. McElveen was doing as well as some of the anesthesia equipment. Overall it was a fascinating day and I hope I can observe more surgeries in the future! 

Drew Day 7 The Boot

imagetoday was mostly in the office we started with ring told that we needed to go over to Nottingham and price it with how much making the ceilings the same height. They are doing it because one of there tenants was really late on paying there lease so they wee being kicked out so they were trying to fill it with a tenant right after they end up having to leave. Then we met twice with two different people about churchill for scheduling and a timeline were they went over best and worst casenario and best casenario. One of those meetings was in the office the other was at page road grill which is their inner office meeting spot. Then the day was just a few calls here and there and a lot of paper work.

Day 7: The New Reality is Virtual Reality

Today we were able to experience virtual reality! Caroline, a student from Cardinal Gibbons, also joined us today for our internship.We started off by learning about the history of virtual reality and seeing the project that John, our mentor today, was working on. He was trying to build a simulation for forensic scientists to be able to learn how to use a certain machine that would separate strands of DNA by length. We then sat in on a meeting with some very prolific people in the field of forensics from Texas where John showcased his project.

Us in the conference room for the meeting (Caroline is in the middle):

IMG_1005

Jonathan observing the meeting with the project project behind him:

IMG_1007

Then, we got to go experiment with the “Oculus Rift” Virtual Reality technology which was really cool. We were able to actually build a virtual world by creating blocks and moving them. It was awesome technology that we learned will soon be implemented into normal life and homes everywhere. Types of virtual reality devices are already available to the public such as “Google Cardboard”.

Jonathan with the “Oculus Rift” headset on his head, and him creating blocks in the virtual world:

IMG_1016

A video of me using the “Oculus Rift” headset:

Being able to use the virtual reality technology was a great experience, and I hope it becomes popularized enough that we start to see more of it out in the real world soon! – Kiran W.

 

Day 6: The Journey of Granite

Today, Grace and I continued our ongoing battle against huge binders and papercuts, but we also got to delve even deeper into the company workings. Charlene, the accountant and right-hand woman of Vandana, explained how the granite gets from the quarries in Brazil, Italy, India, and China all the way to the warehouses at each of CRS’s four locations (Virginia Beach, Raleigh, Charleston, and Austin). First, CRS contacts suppliers in these foreign countries, who then ship the materials in containers to Norfolk, Virginia. Then, the slabs are trucked either here, to Virginia Beach, or to Charleston. There, they’re placed on display in a warehouse, where customers who have been in contact with fabricators (companies who actually install the granite into houses) come look at the slabs and tag the ones they want to buy. After Charlene explained how the granite gets to the warehouses, we took a tour around back and even got to see a bundle being unloaded with a forklift and chains. Next, we got to shadow Brittany, who was helping a customer choose slabs of soapstone. She explained that there are price ranges for each type of granite, from A-E, where A is the least expensive, and E is the most! After that, we continued our filing and invoicing jobs and called it a day!

-Khushi 

A type of granite called “Fusion” which falls under the E price range and can cost as much as $80 per square foot!

The company mascot, Fedo, looking a little sleepy after a long walk around the building! 

Quail Ridge Books, Music, and Interns

Today I was at Quail Ridge, a somewhat famous regional independent bookstore known for music, literary fiction, and good Southern writing! I spent a lot of time talking with the store’s owners and employees about what goes into book ordering, point-of-sale systems, and shelving. I also got to talk with their children’s manager, Nancy, about the store’s Teen Advisory Board: a group of teens who review and read YA titles, meet YA authors, and do all sorts of cool stuff!