Under African Skies Mass Email

Dear, well, everyone.

Congratulations! If you are receiving this email it means you are a member of an elite social group known in certain circles as "Andrea's Mass Email *To Box." More commonly known as, "The Cool Kids."


Having said this, I apologize for the generic this-is-what's-happening mass email. If you are like me, you probably want to kick me in the head about now. Let's be honest, if you are like me, you've deleted this email without even opening it, unless the subject line mislead into you into thinking it was a personalized email in which case you opened it, began reading, cursed loudly at the sender, forwarded it to your friends with a bitchy note attached and only then proceeded to delete it without reading.

The truth is, however, this email has been commissioned by many persons who wish to know the wheres, whats, whens and all those other dubs. There are certain things flying around (missionary work?! Hayley, comeon!!!) that I have no better way to clear up (Not being on facebook is Social Suicide) than to fill my one-time mass email obligation.

Therefore, Cool Kids, I invite you to enjoy the privilege that comes with your place in this exclusive club this and browse this list of frequently asked questions heard straight from the mouths of your fellow members and compiled by yours truly for your reading pleasure.

FAQs:

On the Subject of Med school:

Q: Andrea. Aren't you a doctor yet?
A: It seems like I should be, doesn't it? Afterall, I've been in school for nearly a billion years and am aging quite rapidly. However, I have one more year of medical school to compete before I graduate.

Q: So next year you'll be an MD, right? And prescribe me a bunch of fun meds?A: Your drug habit will have to go on hold for an extra year. Though I only have my 4th year of medical school to complete, I won't be starting it until 2010 and graduating in 2011.
Q: What are you doing during the next year?
A: I am a recipient of the Doris Duke International Clinical Research Fellowship from Yale School of Medicine. I will be in Tshwane, South Africa for the year participating as part of a research team as well as undertaking my own research project.

Q: I thought you were just at Yale ... wtf?
A: After I finished my last rotation at Brown, I drove to KY and then to MN, studied for and took my boards (suckas!!), flew back to the East Coast to move to New Haven where I mastered biostatics and boned up on research methods (Bite your tongue! I am very studious!)

Q: But why the hell would you tack on an extra year to med school hell?
A: Well, when you put it that way, Good freakin' question. I think I thrive off of misery. But, as the "core crew" tells me, this is actually a year away from med school doing research. Ultimately, this is as much about preparing for my career as basic science, clinical rotations and even residency.

Q: When do you go?
A: I am HERE! (I really procrastinated on this email! But now it serves the double purpose of responding to all the "did you make it ok?" emails. For those of you who did not send an "are you safe?" inquiry. Yes. I am. Thanks.) I'll be here until May.

On Research:

Q: Are you tired of telling people about what exactly it is you will be doing in S. Africa?
A: No i am not. But thanks for the concern.

Q: So....?
A: Oh! My work is surrounding Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs. Basically, even in urban areas where proper ARVs and HAART is available and women are actually seen at clinics during pregnancy, the transmission rate here still really sucks (about 15%. In the states it is .001%) This is due to a lot of structural problems of resource-poor settings which affects delivery of PMTCT but also due to psychosocial factors faced by women that affect their adherence to PMTCT.

The large study I will be working on involves implementing large scale interventions at clinics to improve PMTCT delivery and adherence. My own study is trying to find new and innovative ways to support women during their pregnancy to increase PMTCT adherence. It is a feasibility study in which I will be running a support group via text messaging to see if this is a better approach due to women's limited mobility and other logistical barriers to "physical" support groups.

Q: So you get to go to S. Africa AND you get to text message the entire time?
A: Sweet deal, huh?

On other S. Africa work:

Q: Will you get to do any clinical work?
A: Yes. I am registered as a University of Pretoria medical student and I am invited to do as much or as little clinical work as I want. I plan to do a lot to get a better feel for international health and what would be the proper speciality in which to train. (Thank you Luther College, for making vocation something so complicated.) I especially want to spend time in the neonatal nursery and outpatient clinics and the ER.

Q: Are you sure you brought enough professional dress of being in the hospital?
A: I have plenty of modest blouses and knee length skirts.

Q: You'll be working with HIV, are you going to get AIDS? (I'm going to go ahead and give a shout out to Nana on that one.)
A: No. No, I will not. Apes maybe. But not AIDS.

South Africa logistics:

Q: Where is Tshwane?
A: It is what used to be called Pretoria. It is the municipal capital of S. Africa and right next to Johannesburg.

Q: Will you be home for Christmas?
A: I know that Santa is getting me a really cool gift called "Nephew" which I'd love to come home to see. However, I am not making any promises and may use the holiday to travel to places where jet lag won't be such an issue (Paris in December?!)

Q: Where will you live?A: I am living in the medical school dorms near the medical campus. They are SWEET! Plus, S. African medical students are REALLY well dressed and nice to look at. Brown Med 2010 could take a few pointers.

Q: Where are your kitties? (I would not normally have included this question, but I must admit that it is indeed the most FAQ.
A: I brought them to KY to live with my sister-in-law to beat up her dog. My plants, too, are also safe with multitudes of friends... I know you were worried.

Q: Will you have time to travel?
A: I will make sure of it. If anyone wants to meet me anywhere, let me know. Ghana and Madagascar are among my stops.

Q: Will you have Internet?
A: No. Unfortunately my hut does not have electricity and the country of Africa has not yet discovered these modern forms of communication.

Q: Will you blog while you are there?
A: I do not believe I have anything interesting or important enough to say that it must circulate through cyberspace for all to read. If I have something clever to say, I'll send you the link to my craigslist post.

Q: Please...?
A: Here is the link to my blog that I have never once used: http://alachdean.blogspot.com/ I, again, make no guarantees, but I will try to occasionally let you know I am safe and well... I, at least, promise to use the blog as an alternative venue if I have feel the need to do this sort of thing again.

All right everyone. I hope this email has served your purposes and no one feels left out of the loop. Most importabntly from this email is a PLEA that if here is ANY news (good or bad) that I should know about, please do not wait until I land back in the states before you spring it on me. I understand that extreme circumstances call for extreme measures, but mostly PLEASE let me know if anything happens. I know I will be missing some weddings and births and that sucks. Keep me up to date anyway!

I love you all and am so glad that you are so goddamn cool.

Andrea