It is hard to believe that it has been 4 years since Wesley was born, two years since Cameron was born and now there is a 3rd on the way! Life is so much different with kids, but it really is worth it.
As a dad, I am really starting to enjoy the boys looking forward to my getting home from work and my weekends to play. Wesley is starting to enjoy things like the digger outside and the 'jumper' trampoline that Santa brought him for Christmas. Cameron is having fun playing with Wesley.
It has also been a lot of fun to teach Wesley how to work with the dog. He has a long way to go there, but he is doing much better. He is learning how to give Millie commands and reward her for proper behavior (now we just need to instill the same sense of following instructions into him).
Wesley is really growing up. His mind is starting to dream and he is thinking BIG. He is also becoming a bit devious. He has been taking medicine for his ears and doesn't like the taste. In order to prevent himself from getting any, he removed the medicine bottles from the fridge and placed them in a drawer in his room. It was quite a hunt to track those down!
Having boys is such a rewarding experience. I love both of mine and can't want to build the bond with the next baby on the way!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Prepping for the Big Move
We have approached T minus 30 days until the patient move for Le Bonheur. Things are really ramping up. This week a mock move was completed where 72 patients were moved in a 'test' to the new location. We learned a lot from the second test of moving patients and I believe are now ready for the real thing to take place.
The building is really looking wonderful and slowly transforming from a construction zone to what looks like a hospital. The hospital has done a fantastic job of encorporating the needs for patient care, advancements in technology, as well as a desire to display the largest collection of Memphis art in the community. I find the artwork particularly wonderful considering the mix between childrens and amateur art along with professional pieces.
I was recently told of one additional project that my son is going to personally be excited to see-- I am told there will be a train that is setup in the bridge between the current and new building. I will have to ensure that Wesley or Cameron don't end up in the bridge or we will never get out :)
Back to work. Departments to ready. Plans to solidify. Lots of people to train.
The building is really looking wonderful and slowly transforming from a construction zone to what looks like a hospital. The hospital has done a fantastic job of encorporating the needs for patient care, advancements in technology, as well as a desire to display the largest collection of Memphis art in the community. I find the artwork particularly wonderful considering the mix between childrens and amateur art along with professional pieces.
I was recently told of one additional project that my son is going to personally be excited to see-- I am told there will be a train that is setup in the bridge between the current and new building. I will have to ensure that Wesley or Cameron don't end up in the bridge or we will never get out :)
Back to work. Departments to ready. Plans to solidify. Lots of people to train.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
A New Site Look and Feel
Well, it has been a long time since I have upgraded the look and feel of my site, so I am working on some new technology to make that upgrade. I am working on a Silverlight solution that will allow me to utilize the .NET programming I enjoy doing along with some web display. We will see what I can come up with!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Helicopter Crashes
This has been a rollercoaster past week. At around 6am on March 25 I received a call from dispatch advising that one of our helicopters had crashed just outside of Brownsville, TN without any survivors. The crew was one of the adult crews-- no Pedi-Flite personnel were onboard.
It was a very strange feeling. My heart sank and at the same time I had a guilty sense of relief that it wasn't anyone from my staff. I feel guilty for these feelings, but that is the truth.
I rushed to get to work and start figuring out all of the details and making the necessary notifications. As the day progressed, the reality of what had happened slowly started to sink in. It all started as a bad dream that just wouldn't go away. As the day progressed, the dream faded into stark and ugly reality. 3 friends were dead, the news was speculating on what happened, my team was devistated, we were grounded, and everything that we considered normal to our world was completely turned upside down.
I decided it necessary to send a memo to the team explaining the plans and officially addressing everyone regarding what had happened. It took most of the morning to choose my words, but by afternoon, my letter was submitted to the team. In addition, I had setup a grief counseling session for the team to take place the next day to begin the process of healing and understanding.
The next day was no easier and the pace of rumors and issues was ramping up. Members of the team were feeling many different stanges of grief and it was challenging to assist all members in understanding that everyone was responding normally. It was very clear that the counseling session was a necessary event and I was looking forward to having some help onsite to guide emotions.
The session was managed by our EAP team and local CISM team. They did a wonderful job in helping everyone. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by all.
At the end of the session the team was provided information regarding the services for each of the fallen heroes. At each funeral there was to be an ambulance procession and PediFlite was participating in the services as part of the Hospital Wing crew. While a great honor, it was also a big task. One funeral and visitation is difficult by three across a span of 4 days was very difficult. We organized the crews and asked that ambulances and boots be perfectly polished. From one service to the next we learned of little mistakes and guidance that needed to be given (like wear long sleeve uniforms to funeral services). Each service was a sad reminder of what happened and after each service it was difficult to stop and remember as there was immediate planning for the next service.
The hardest moment for me came when I was asked to speak on behalf of the PediFlite team at the Memorial service. While a great honor, it was also a great task. How was I to choose the perfect words to represent the character of those lost?
After asking the team for assistance with their memories and injecting a few of my own, I started to build an outline for what I would say. This outline slowly developed into a story and the story slowly into what I hoped to be honoring remarks for the great members of the Hospital Wing family that had died. I pondered and tweaked those remarks for most of the night constantly reciting in my head what I was to say. Was it perfect? I am sure not, but I was at a loss for how to make it better.
At the memorial service, I sat listening to all of the remarks made prior to mine reveling in how wonderful these 3 were. I knew the task before me was huge. I also knew it was going to be emotionally challenging-- I wasn't sure I was ready, but it was my turn.
Once on the podium I started speaking. As I made it past a few of the opening comments, I noticed my eyes watering and my hands sweating. While all of the words were written in front of me, there were becoming so blurry that it was VERY difficult to read them. I was working off of memory. Luckily a tear finally dropped from my eye allowing me to continue reading my remarks.
The memorial was a beautiful tribute to these wonderful people and I hope that our community will never forget the service and dedication that was provided to us by the crew of Wing 5. I know that I will not!
It was a very strange feeling. My heart sank and at the same time I had a guilty sense of relief that it wasn't anyone from my staff. I feel guilty for these feelings, but that is the truth.
I rushed to get to work and start figuring out all of the details and making the necessary notifications. As the day progressed, the reality of what had happened slowly started to sink in. It all started as a bad dream that just wouldn't go away. As the day progressed, the dream faded into stark and ugly reality. 3 friends were dead, the news was speculating on what happened, my team was devistated, we were grounded, and everything that we considered normal to our world was completely turned upside down.
I decided it necessary to send a memo to the team explaining the plans and officially addressing everyone regarding what had happened. It took most of the morning to choose my words, but by afternoon, my letter was submitted to the team. In addition, I had setup a grief counseling session for the team to take place the next day to begin the process of healing and understanding.
The next day was no easier and the pace of rumors and issues was ramping up. Members of the team were feeling many different stanges of grief and it was challenging to assist all members in understanding that everyone was responding normally. It was very clear that the counseling session was a necessary event and I was looking forward to having some help onsite to guide emotions.
The session was managed by our EAP team and local CISM team. They did a wonderful job in helping everyone. Their efforts were greatly appreciated by all.
At the end of the session the team was provided information regarding the services for each of the fallen heroes. At each funeral there was to be an ambulance procession and PediFlite was participating in the services as part of the Hospital Wing crew. While a great honor, it was also a big task. One funeral and visitation is difficult by three across a span of 4 days was very difficult. We organized the crews and asked that ambulances and boots be perfectly polished. From one service to the next we learned of little mistakes and guidance that needed to be given (like wear long sleeve uniforms to funeral services). Each service was a sad reminder of what happened and after each service it was difficult to stop and remember as there was immediate planning for the next service.
The hardest moment for me came when I was asked to speak on behalf of the PediFlite team at the Memorial service. While a great honor, it was also a great task. How was I to choose the perfect words to represent the character of those lost?
After asking the team for assistance with their memories and injecting a few of my own, I started to build an outline for what I would say. This outline slowly developed into a story and the story slowly into what I hoped to be honoring remarks for the great members of the Hospital Wing family that had died. I pondered and tweaked those remarks for most of the night constantly reciting in my head what I was to say. Was it perfect? I am sure not, but I was at a loss for how to make it better.
At the memorial service, I sat listening to all of the remarks made prior to mine reveling in how wonderful these 3 were. I knew the task before me was huge. I also knew it was going to be emotionally challenging-- I wasn't sure I was ready, but it was my turn.
Once on the podium I started speaking. As I made it past a few of the opening comments, I noticed my eyes watering and my hands sweating. While all of the words were written in front of me, there were becoming so blurry that it was VERY difficult to read them. I was working off of memory. Luckily a tear finally dropped from my eye allowing me to continue reading my remarks.
The memorial was a beautiful tribute to these wonderful people and I hope that our community will never forget the service and dedication that was provided to us by the crew of Wing 5. I know that I will not!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Two Weeks In Haiti
Yesterday I returned from a two week mission trip in Haiti which was truly an eye opening experience. This trip taught me to appreciate many of the things that I take for granted day after day... like a good hot shower.
Our trip was two weeks in length, but was preceeded by another week of intense planning and preparation. Thus, getting back yesterday was wonderful and I truly missed my family. It has been wonderful to spend time playing with the boys and just relaxing with Julie. I missed them a lot during the trip.
Our mission was to address surgical needs of the Hatian people after the Earthguake. When we arrived to Haiti, the compound we were staying at did not have too many surgical needs at the time, but one of the sisters assisted in getting us connected with Sacred Heart hospital in Haiti. This was a true blessing as we were able to get connected with this facility and within minutes of arriving there get started with what our true mission was.
At Sacred Heart the team managed a number of fractures, x-fix adjustments, an amputation, and emergent appendix removal in addition to a few other surgeries. In addition to these surgical interventions, our team assisted with dressing changes which was a huge need as well as working in the triage area which was seeing in the order of 200 patients per day.
One of the most notable things about the trip is the multi-national nature of the response. While at Sacred Heart we worked with the French, Mexicans, teams from all over the US, Banglidesh, Brazil and others. The interesting thing was that despite many barriers, all groups learned to work together for the most part and tried to do what was in the best interests of the patients considering the circumstances.
That said, the conditions for caring for patients were less than adequate. Patients were hospitalized in tents where infection was rampant, care was spotty and supplies were sparce. We did not have the luxury of IV pumps and other equipment to make delivery of medications safer and more efficient. There were far more physicians than nurses and other support staff. Therefore, therapy, medication delivery and basic wound care often took a back seat to managing the acute needs of the incoming patients and those actively having surgery or dying.
As our time in Haiti progressed, some of these issues did improve. We saw more support staff assisting in the tents which helped to ensure that the patients received the medications that were ordered at least during the day-- the challenge remains that most teams leave at night and the patients are all left to almost fend for themselves with the exception of 1 or 2 nurses to care for everyone throughout the night.
Another thing that was severely lacking was a medical record! The 'dossier' as it was called was a single sheet of paper that was not written in multiple languages, so it was a best guess as to where certain things should be documented. In addition, many thought at first that they were exempt from documentation and therefore care was very poorly chronicled. Obviously this is substandard, but generally didn't create a major problem for patients that were seen in the triage area, however, for any patient admitted, this was a catastrophe. Determining when dressings needed changing was impossible, medication orders were a joke, and knowing what was wrong with patients was -- well quite a challenge. One of our goals which I believe we did a fairly good job of achieving was to set some 'professional standards' of documentation where doctors would write orders and note which doctor made the order. Support staff documented giving medications on the chart. It was still a complex system as the orders required you to read all the way back in the chart to the initial order, however, most charts were less than 5 pages so it was not a major ordeal. After implementing and demanding charting for things performed to patients, we noted when medications were missed and did our best to keep patients on a routine with important medications such as antibiotic therapy. For future events, the one thing that I would suggest as VERY important to the success of any program is development of a simple to use medical record system that all can follow and agree to utilize. Failure to do so places patients in jeopardy.
The acute phase of management of earthquake victims is rapidly approaching closure. The need to do wound care, x-fix adjustment and removal as well as intense therapy is now starting. Patients need assistance in getting our of bed, learning to adapt to their new handicaps as well as whenever possible try to get prosthetics placed to create a productive society that can truly move on post the earthquake.
My trip to Haiti was quite eye opening. The people of Haiti are strong and I greatly look forward to following the progress of the country during the rebuilding. The damage was extensive, the numbers of dead are overwhelming and the cost for rebuilding will be staggering. Haiti needs the international community not to lose interest now that media coverage of Haiti and the recovery is waning. There are lots of needs, many of which are still largely unmet.
Our trip was two weeks in length, but was preceeded by another week of intense planning and preparation. Thus, getting back yesterday was wonderful and I truly missed my family. It has been wonderful to spend time playing with the boys and just relaxing with Julie. I missed them a lot during the trip.
Our mission was to address surgical needs of the Hatian people after the Earthguake. When we arrived to Haiti, the compound we were staying at did not have too many surgical needs at the time, but one of the sisters assisted in getting us connected with Sacred Heart hospital in Haiti. This was a true blessing as we were able to get connected with this facility and within minutes of arriving there get started with what our true mission was.
At Sacred Heart the team managed a number of fractures, x-fix adjustments, an amputation, and emergent appendix removal in addition to a few other surgeries. In addition to these surgical interventions, our team assisted with dressing changes which was a huge need as well as working in the triage area which was seeing in the order of 200 patients per day.
One of the most notable things about the trip is the multi-national nature of the response. While at Sacred Heart we worked with the French, Mexicans, teams from all over the US, Banglidesh, Brazil and others. The interesting thing was that despite many barriers, all groups learned to work together for the most part and tried to do what was in the best interests of the patients considering the circumstances.
That said, the conditions for caring for patients were less than adequate. Patients were hospitalized in tents where infection was rampant, care was spotty and supplies were sparce. We did not have the luxury of IV pumps and other equipment to make delivery of medications safer and more efficient. There were far more physicians than nurses and other support staff. Therefore, therapy, medication delivery and basic wound care often took a back seat to managing the acute needs of the incoming patients and those actively having surgery or dying.
As our time in Haiti progressed, some of these issues did improve. We saw more support staff assisting in the tents which helped to ensure that the patients received the medications that were ordered at least during the day-- the challenge remains that most teams leave at night and the patients are all left to almost fend for themselves with the exception of 1 or 2 nurses to care for everyone throughout the night.
Another thing that was severely lacking was a medical record! The 'dossier' as it was called was a single sheet of paper that was not written in multiple languages, so it was a best guess as to where certain things should be documented. In addition, many thought at first that they were exempt from documentation and therefore care was very poorly chronicled. Obviously this is substandard, but generally didn't create a major problem for patients that were seen in the triage area, however, for any patient admitted, this was a catastrophe. Determining when dressings needed changing was impossible, medication orders were a joke, and knowing what was wrong with patients was -- well quite a challenge. One of our goals which I believe we did a fairly good job of achieving was to set some 'professional standards' of documentation where doctors would write orders and note which doctor made the order. Support staff documented giving medications on the chart. It was still a complex system as the orders required you to read all the way back in the chart to the initial order, however, most charts were less than 5 pages so it was not a major ordeal. After implementing and demanding charting for things performed to patients, we noted when medications were missed and did our best to keep patients on a routine with important medications such as antibiotic therapy. For future events, the one thing that I would suggest as VERY important to the success of any program is development of a simple to use medical record system that all can follow and agree to utilize. Failure to do so places patients in jeopardy.
The acute phase of management of earthquake victims is rapidly approaching closure. The need to do wound care, x-fix adjustment and removal as well as intense therapy is now starting. Patients need assistance in getting our of bed, learning to adapt to their new handicaps as well as whenever possible try to get prosthetics placed to create a productive society that can truly move on post the earthquake.
My trip to Haiti was quite eye opening. The people of Haiti are strong and I greatly look forward to following the progress of the country during the rebuilding. The damage was extensive, the numbers of dead are overwhelming and the cost for rebuilding will be staggering. Haiti needs the international community not to lose interest now that media coverage of Haiti and the recovery is waning. There are lots of needs, many of which are still largely unmet.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Smokin' Train
From the time he wakes up until the time he goes to sleep, Wesley is interested in one thing: Smokin' Train.
Take a look on my site at http://www.crilecrisler.com/ModelRailroad/album/index.html to find the train layout. We are hard at work creating a pretty neat setup if I do say so myself. Julie has been the artistic force behind this project coming up with how to build the tunnel and the grass for 1/2 of the setup. I have been the engineer building the box, the elevations for the track and the wiring.
Together, we have build what I believe is one heck of a cool first train layout for Wesley and I believe he thinks so too. We have two transformers controlling two track blocks. There is a switch to change the locomotive from block 1 to block 2 and then another switch to bring the train back to the first block. The track provides for two tunnel under-passes and 1 long over mountain pass.
I have enjoyed the setup as much as Wesley and look forward to the periodic opportunity to continue track and layout improvements. The next important additions are going to be some more straight track. In the layout we have, we came up a little short on straight track, but in due time that problem will be corrected allowing some more layout enhancements. We will also likely need some more switches to continue layout growth.
Back to train smokin' :)
Take a look on my site at http://www.crilecrisler.com/ModelRailroad/album/index.html to find the train layout. We are hard at work creating a pretty neat setup if I do say so myself. Julie has been the artistic force behind this project coming up with how to build the tunnel and the grass for 1/2 of the setup. I have been the engineer building the box, the elevations for the track and the wiring.
Together, we have build what I believe is one heck of a cool first train layout for Wesley and I believe he thinks so too. We have two transformers controlling two track blocks. There is a switch to change the locomotive from block 1 to block 2 and then another switch to bring the train back to the first block. The track provides for two tunnel under-passes and 1 long over mountain pass.
I have enjoyed the setup as much as Wesley and look forward to the periodic opportunity to continue track and layout improvements. The next important additions are going to be some more straight track. In the layout we have, we came up a little short on straight track, but in due time that problem will be corrected allowing some more layout enhancements. We will also likely need some more switches to continue layout growth.
Back to train smokin' :)
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year
2009 was a great year and 2010 promises to be an even better year. I am looking forward to moving closer to move-in date for our new Le Bonheur Hospital in September 2010 as well as continuing to progress towards significant Emergency Department efficiency in 2010.
At home, I am really enjoying watching Wesley and Cameron develop and grow. Cameron has the best personality and just loves to play. My favorite is when you sit down of the floor and he turns around like he is going to walk away and then back up into your lap. I just think that is very cute...
Wesley is a train fanatic. I think 2009 was the year of the Deere! 2010 appears to be shaping out as the year of the Lionel Train. Santa delivered Wesley a nice Lionel train set which has quickly grown and now is promising to transform the upstairs of our home to a model railroaders dream. The layout continues to expand and the number of trains and cars is also growing. Wesley is really learning as we work together on this project and it has been fun to see his attention span increase when the project is one he truly is interested in!
As Wesley would say "Let's go smoke train."
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
At home, I am really enjoying watching Wesley and Cameron develop and grow. Cameron has the best personality and just loves to play. My favorite is when you sit down of the floor and he turns around like he is going to walk away and then back up into your lap. I just think that is very cute...
Wesley is a train fanatic. I think 2009 was the year of the Deere! 2010 appears to be shaping out as the year of the Lionel Train. Santa delivered Wesley a nice Lionel train set which has quickly grown and now is promising to transform the upstairs of our home to a model railroaders dream. The layout continues to expand and the number of trains and cars is also growing. Wesley is really learning as we work together on this project and it has been fun to see his attention span increase when the project is one he truly is interested in!
As Wesley would say "Let's go smoke train."
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
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