christmas update

in case you didn't get the memo...

Season’s Greetings!

I hope this card finds you all well and in good spirits. This past year has been both exciting and busy and the upcoming year promises to be the same.

As most of you know, I completed my Master’s in Physiology at Georgetown University in July 2004 and returned back to the Midwest to attend medical school shortly thereafter. I have been in Kirksville, Missouri for the last year attending the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. It was an amazingly smooth transition and I have met some truly amazing people here. I have been very active in several special interest groups as well as the student government. I currently serve as the 1st Vice President for the student body and the Vice President for the Emergency Medicine Interest Group and participate in the Sports Medicine Club. I am also working with the National Collegiate EMS Foundation as their North-Central Regional Coordinator.

I also have been very active in planning a medical mission trip to South Africa. I was part of a group of thirteen students from our school to initiate a program with the community of Atlantis, a large suburb of Cape Town that is home to many people displaced after Apartheid. Obviously any medical mission trip is unique and undoubtedly life-changing, but having built this experience from the ground up, our group has become very attached to our friends overseas. Though we were only in our clinics for two weeks, we saw over 2,000 children and were able to provide referrals and healthcare access to a large population that would have otherwise gone untreated.

Outside of classes, Kirksville has been a great place to continue with some of my other hobbies. Most notably, I have started fishing again. There are a couple of great spots for bluegill, crappie, and largemouth bass fishing as well as the occasional walleye. In addition, I’ve started playing volleyball again and have been trying to get out and run everyone once and a while. Exercise has become an increasingly important pastime since most of us find ourselves packing on pounds when we have a long string of exams or finals.

Even though it seems like a lot has changed, I still spend a lot of time thinking about how lucky I was to have been given the opportunity to do everything I did before medical school. Most notably, every tiny bit of clinical experience I received has been of unbelievable benefit. I’ve tried to reiterate to everyone I know throughout the years the importance of remembering all the people that helped them along the way. Even today, I think about everything that I learned from my experiences in IEMS, GERMS, Covenant ER and Pro Ambulance. I was so lucky to have people take the time to teach me the trade secrets that have made me a pretty savvy clinician even before I hit the wards.

So that’s pretty much it for me. My parents are both still somewhat retired out in the San José area in California. My mom just started volunteering for the City of Milpitas working with the Chinese community. She’s mostly spending her time translating complaints of the non-English speaking citizens for the City. My dad is still a workout fiend and I am sure he will be swinging into action when income tax time rolls around. My brother recently left his job with the Carle Foundation Hospital Advertising and Marketing Department in Urbana, Illinois to pursue a career in Law Enforcement with the Urbana Police Department. He graduated from Police Academy in September and has been on orientation at UPD.

I know that for many of you, this is probably the first communication you have received from me in years. However, I hope that the upcoming months will be more conducive to communications. If nothing else, I invite you all to send me an e-mail or check my web log at http://andyjou.blogspot.com. I know these seem very impersonal, but I hope to speak with you all very soon.

Sincerely,

Andy