Work! Work! Work!

These past two weeks have probably been some of the most critical weeks for my CAS project. We worked on growth, teamwork, undertaking challenges and commitment. Last week we had to be extraordinarily vital and diligent making sure to get all of our work done before our big weekend. This means communicating with all of the women who were coming to this weekend’s insertions (16-17), making sure all doctors were ready along with our staff and that we had an equipped enough team. We were all a little stressed before the insertion began at 8 am, but we quickly got the hang of it. We created different stations that way it would be easier for the women coming in and for us, I was in charge of speaking to all women individually after they received their IUDS to ask them questions from our survey. On the day I volunteered which was the 16 we had about 40 women come through, and we thought that this was a lot, our staff did not know what they had coming for them the next day; we had 110 women come through! It was an insane and surreal experience. I am not sure what it taught my team and other people because perhaps they have experienced something like this, but I never have. This taught me how important patience is because it took us so long to be able to reach this point, it showed me perseverance because the day off were all so nervous but we stuck through it, and it also taught me how important communication and having a team of people that you can rely on is very crucial. Most importantly me this project showed me how my actions could have results, I have been putting work into this project for about a month and a half, and I wasn’t expecting such amazing results. Experiencing this showed me that even if you set your mind to it only for a small amount of time if you truly are passionate about it, you will have a result and a victory. These days of insertion were an experience that I will never forget because not only did it have so many valuable teaching outcomes on my life but it changed these women’s lives.

CAS night was another moment which taught me that my work pays off. I was so nervous to present and was willing do anything not to; I was scared that I was going to mess up and make a fool out of myself and my project. When I began presenting I quickly got the hang of it, and it almost came naturally, besides me being so nervous, but I was confident in what I was saying and felt like I got my message across. CAS night was super essential and taught me how to present publicly and how to get over one of my biggest fears. This was an experience that will have lasting change in my life.