Lawson & Amber: December 2008

22 December 2008

This is why Amber is afraid to have children. If I'm like this with the dogs try to imagine the outfits I'll have our kids wearing.

Here's to a great holiday and an incredible new year!

19 December 2008

Rotations

We finally received my 3rd & 4th year rotation assignments on 12 December. My core training will be at SkyRidge Medical Center in Cleveland, TN. We picked Cleveland because Amber works at Red Clay State Park during the summer. Last summer Amber would drive three hours each way to spend two days a week at home. We also picked Cleveland because it is right outside of Chattanooga where my sister Valerie lives.
http://www.sk yridgemedicalcenter.net/Pages/home.aspx

Our rotations are handed out via a lottery system. You pick your top twenty choices and then a computer decides where you will be…at least that’s the theory. I’m not convinced there wasn’t a little creative orchestrating done in order to make it an even spread of students (i.e. spreading out the really smart ones and the really obnoxious ones). Regardless, I feel very fortunate to have received the location we selected because some of my classmates didn’t get any of their top twenty selections.

I’ve now started the quest for elective and selective sites. Most of my selective spots for 4th year will be dedicated to visiting the residency programs I am hoping to match with. Here’s a list of my potential sites, many of which are on my top ten list for residency programs.

MAHEC (Mountain Area Health Education Center)
Hendersonville, NC
http://www.mahec.net/student/electivesWelcome.aspx

Kingsport Family Medicine Residency
Johnson City, TN
http://www.etsu.edu/com/familymed/programs/kingsport//default.aspx

Lyon-Martin Health Services
San Francisco, CA
http://www.lyon-martin.org/

Kodiak Area Native Association
Kodiak, AK
http://www.kanaweb.org/

Central Maine Medical Center
Portland, ME
http://www.cmmcfmrp.org/students_elective.html

College of Human Medicine at Michigan State University
Kalamazoo, MI
http://www.kcms.msu.edu/

University of Wyoming Family Medicine Residency Program
Cheyenne, WY
http://www.uwyo.edu/chyfammed/

How we chose our title...

Many Native American groups, especially in the Eastern part of the nation, traditionally viewed North America as an island. Various groups told different creation stories of how the land they inhabited came into existance. The phrase "Turtle Island" is a rough translation of the name several northeastern groups gave to the land. They believed that the earth was a large island which rested on the back of a turtle's shell and that the shell was suspended from the sky vault on four huge ropes.

For many people, "Turtle Island" now represents a more complex message. It is a way of naming the soil which supports us in a way that acknowledges the occupants which resided here long before European conquests. "America" is a title which ignores the rich history, and culture, of the people who called the Island home for centuries before Ericson or Columbus. "Turtle Island" honors the traditions of an ancient civilization, while still recognizing the ever changing naure and merging cultures of the people who call this particular piece of the earth home.

By choosing to refer to our homeland as "Turtle Island" we recognize the root of our nation's culture, the history of our families, and the ever evolving nature of our own lives. As we make our place in the world, and move from location to location, we know the Island will continue to nurture and support us in the same manner it supported our ancestors as they built their own homes and families.

Lawson & Amber

22 December 2008

19 December 2008

Rotations

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How we chose our title...