September 12, 2020

by drplasticpicker

Our internship program is closed! We have four AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Interns. I have to provide them with mentorship and guidance, and I can’t do it well if I have too many. So our internship program (which I just made up!) is closed. More candidates keep on coming out of the woodwork, but I tell them next year or the year after next we may have an opening. When one gets a job or gets into medical school, than a spot will open up. Sometimes when I wake in the morning, I’m not sure what to blog about. I half started two blog posts but deleted them. They were on environmental projects that are completed now, so really no need to write about them. So much of this blog is helping me figure out what to do next with the climate.

I thought I’d take this opportunity to describe the State of the Interns. I love our interns. They are such a great group. Honestly, they are better than many of the doctors I know. They actually do stuff. The others just whine (did I just say that?). No I am just joking!!! But seriously the interns are great. I provide them premedical advising and support, and they work on cool projects for the earth in whatever pace they can. And everyone wins (especially the earth). Eventaully the committee members and I will need to write up letters of recommendations for them, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to describe what the interns have done so far. I think I’ll just update this blogpost as they complete different tasks too. And later when I write their letters of recommendations, it will be just cut and paste! See Dr. Plastic Picker is super efficient person.

I will list the interns in random order.

Intern #1: H.T. H.T. took his MCAT yesterday. We are meeting up with Intern #2 A.T. virtually at the HOPE Conference this morining. The HOPE Conference is on Early Childhood Mental Health. He is mostly working on the AAP-CA3 Climate Change and Health Youth Art’s Exhibition. He established an email account for the intern group (so their personal emails don’t get flooded), send a really nice congratulatory email to the kids. Mostly he will be working on this project and our goal is actually to structure it as an advocacy poster to present at AAP NCE 2021 in Philadelphia. The HOPE Conference today will serve as a background of the why this climate advocacay, youth engagement and nature based activities improves pediatric health. It’s all swirling in my mind, and Dr. Dear Friend who is our ACES (Adverse Childhood Events) lead and I talk about this on an off. H.T. and I also may write up this weird case of 2 kids I had that had hair growing in their mouth as a case series. Still waiting for some imaging. If it pans out to be nothing (which I hope it is nothing) than we’ll find him something else to do.

Intern #2. A.T. started her sophomre year premedical studies. She is working on the same project as H.K. but with the younger kids. She is also attending the HOPE conference this morning and texted me that she had some minor medical thing happen and would it be okay not to speak during the breakout sessions. She texted me at 2am in the morning. I used to be her pediatrician so I will remind her to sleep. I’m a super nice premed advisor, so I texted back that she should just listen during the conference and we can text back and forth a few times. She has a lot more years until she applies, so I am not as rushed to get stuff on her resume. But she and H.T. are working on the same project, and I am hoping to put them as co-authors on the advocacy poster above. I do also want to write up the paper too. A.T. is also working on organizing this amazing journal club on Pediatric Plant Based Living. More forthcoming!

Intern #3. V.N. She is really rocking it! V.N. came to me just recently and we are structuring her internship as mostly remote since she is a junior at UC Berkeley. She has a very high GPA (I love premed interns with high GPAs). Anyway, she has worked mostly on San Diego Pediatricians for Clean Air. She is really the student co-founder. She designed our logo, our mission statement and helped put together a montage video advocacy project that will be published soon. I ‘ll write about that soon, but Mothers Out Front the group we are working with it will publish the video and amplify our joint advocacy efforts. I think V.N. can continue just to do the periodic work that SDPCA will need. I may have her work on putting together mock-code scenarios. She works as an EMT already. I think that would go well on her resume, and she will likely enjoy it. Those two projects are more than enough for her. She is attending the AAP Legislative Conference today virtually that only cost me $15 to enroll her. I’ll touch base with her later regarding the conference and what she learned. Already I have lots to commend her for.

Aren’t our interns amazing? I really love our interns. Here is the SDPCA logo that V.N. created. She was really worried about the logo as she’s never done anything like that before. Dr. Plastic Picker reassured her that neither have I. We will figure things out together. But with climate change we can’t wait, we just have to jump on in and start doing things. That’s what I love most about the interns, they just jumped on in and are going on this crazy ride with me and our commitee. Already all three of them have made such a big difference. Intern #4 is our last intern. He is a mechanical engineering student. I’m not really sure what to do with him yet. I have to review his resume and cover letters today. I’ll do that first and send some e-introduction emails. I need to help him look for a job. I wonder if he can make custom metal childsize trash grabbers for me?