Not "swamp nurse"

On-campus swamp on UL's campus (Yes...apparently there are gators in there!)

Thurs evening, Carol's house
Sorry for the delayed update, folks. I've had little internet access until tonight when I realized that I can bootleg a neighbors wireless here at Carol's! Couple that with a late evening at a 'drug dinner' (more about the reason why later), I've been too tired to do much else when I get home. Tonight, Carol and I are chillin' with pizza and beer!

The past couple days have included a lot of personal education. A nice thing about the trip this time around is that I get to learn more detail about the public health system and how it works. One of the fascinating programs I learned about is the Family-Nurse Partnership program, which was featured in a recent New Yorker article "Swap Nurse". Though the PHNs here aren't very proud of the sexy title, the work described in the piece and recent Nightline special (www.nursefamilypartnership.org) is pretty accurate of the tough kids/young families these nurses are seeing. Please check out the website and view the TV special, found on the right side of the page.

I had the very cool experience of visiting the UL-Lafayette School of Nursing yesterday and guest lecturing this morning. Though the topic of 'culture' isn't my favorite to speak on, the students were excited to hear about our Minnesota Lifeline experience as many people down here didn't know of the work.

Today, after the speaking gig, I went back to the office to help Carol with emergency preparedness work, was audience with Tina before her big-wig presentation tomorrow and ran out to St. Martinville with Barbara to see Kathy Guidry's beautiful, well-run ship at that PHU.

I'll save the fun day of tomorrow for a later posting, but I can say that it will involve crawfish and Lent. (Remember, Cajun-country is very Catholic.)