"Additional Information"

I got two calls from the Peace Corps medical office this past Thursday the 14th.


First, the nurse at the medical office asked me about my prosthesis. I wasn't surprised, since they didn't ask for any additional forms or information about it aside from a few short questions in my medical packet. On the initial online medical survey, there is a box for "uses assistive device (e.g. prosthesis, etc)." So, I checked it. In my medical review packet, the only questions about it for my doctor asked things like, "What assistance does the volunteer need?" "What additional accommodations would this volunteer need?" etc. Since none of that applies to me, my doctor simply wrote "N/A." The nurse said this was contradictory, since I wrote that I use an assistive device, but my doctor wrote that I didn't need assistance. I told her that using an assistive device does NOT necessitate needing additional assistance - those are two distinct things. She still said she was going to have to send it back to my doctor for more information, and I was not at all pleased.


A few hours later, though, the nurse called me again. She said that she had gotten the information straightened out, and would not need additional information from my doctor after all. (Thank goodness! That probably would have taken forever!) All I have to do is write a personal statement about my prosthesis - how long I've had it, how I use it, and describing the fact that I don't have any limitations. After they receive that, she said I'll be medically cleared! Yes! The only strange thing was that she said they needed the personal statement to help the placement officer make sure "that I get the most meaningful placement possible." I'm not really sure what that means...my guess at this point is that they just want to make sure I really don't have any limitations, before they place me somewhere with more limited access - and "meaningful" is code for "safe" in this context.


Hopefully next time I write I'll be medically cleared!

Chronicling the Process

Hello!

 My original intention was to hold off on creating a blog until I received a placement, but some friends have successfully convinced me that it might be interesting to write about my experiences with the placement process and all of the excitement/emotion/frustration/joy/anticipation that comes with it.

 I've created a page with my complete timeline, and will continue to update that as I find out more. There's also an "About the Peace Corps" page, but as I am a college student in her last term of school (..eek!), there's not much time to complete that at the time being. Feel free to leave comments, questions, or suggestions for things you'd like to see me discuss. I've also never had a blog before (unless you count LiveJournal back in high school..), so I'd love some suggestions for formatting, things to include / not to include, etc. Oh, and a special thanks to the lovely Meghan McAffee, who helped me come up with the name. :)

 An interesting update: Up until this point, I've been under the impression that I was scheduled to leave in late summer / early fall, probably in the month of September. Today, my curiosity got the best of me and I called my recuiter to confirm that (since my nomination did change a few times) and to try and get more answers. To the surprise of both of us, my program code indicates that I'm tentitively assigned to be an HIV/AIDS health volunteer (still within community development), leaving in early summer (May-June). Nomenee (my recruiter) thought that this didn't seem right, given my timeframe and experience, and promised to get in contact with my placement officer in DC for more answers. I'll be calling him back on Friday to see how that discussion went.

 When I applied, I was totally prepared and ready to leave after graduation. I put on my availability that I could leave beginning May 30th, and that sounded entirely fine to me. Now that I've been operating under the assumption that I was leaving in September, the early summer timeframe seems impossibly early...I honestly can't imagine leaving so soon. I suppose I'll need to begin adjusting to that idea, but I can't help but hope that it ends up being closer to September.

UPDATE:
I spoke with Nomenee today, and he said its not likely that either of us will hear anything from the placement staff in DC until May 1st. First, I haven't even gotten medical clearance yet, and that could take a few months. Second, there are a lot of applicants ahead of me who haven't even gotten placements yet, so the timeline is really up in the air. It sounds like many people are leaving after their original timeline, so it seems (or at least I'm hoping) that all of this means I'll be leaving closer to the late summer / early fall after all!