IT'S BEEN A BUSY, BUSY WEEK!

As you all know, I started my new job as a Community Home Training Specialist with the Anderson County Disability and Special Needs Board on Monday, October 30th.  Regularly I have had class with two other ladies.  There is one lady that comes pretty frequently along with us, but she has a different job title, so she doesn't need to take all the classes that we are required to take because she won't be working directly with the special needs population.  I think her position is somewhere in administration.  The first day was a lot of information, so much so that I ended up getting a migraine from trying to retain it all.

There is a lot to go over when you work in this field - information ranging from abuse and neglect, medicaid fraud, polices, human rights to proper lifting techniques, emergency protocols, medication administering, first aid and CPR.  I always had to take a defensive driving course and take a driving assessment where I had to prove that I was able to safely and properly drive a mini bus that seats 15-16 people and had to do so with 6 or 7 people on the bus with me.  The instructor stands outside and evaluates.  I also have to take therapeutic options and that's basically learning proper restraint techniques which may needs to be implements in imminently dangerous situations.

I have to go for another TB test on Monday.  I already had my first one done and read - it was founded that I didn't have tuberculosis.  They will perform another one this coming Monday and it will be read again on Wednesday.  I'm also opting to go through the 3-step hepatitis vaccine process to prevent hepatitis B and D.  They offer to pay for it.  If you know anything about hepatitis B and D - you can't get D without first having B and there are no vaccines to help prevent against HIV or hepatitis C.  There are only manual precautions you can take like using the proper personal protective equipment to help avoid the exposure to blood and other bodily fluids.

Yesterday was the most stressful day - we had that driving assessment and then I had to pass an 80 question test on all the information we covered.  I'm so proud that I passed both!  We also have to successfully achieve three med passes and successfully administer insulin, though administering insulin isn't something we would do on a regular basis because most of the individuals are self-administering with an insulin pen.  I go for a 4 hour shadow session Saturday morning to see more about what the job entails and things of that nature.  Apparently I won't be working alone which is great because I was really stressed out over that.  Thankfully, I will be working with a girl that has been working there for 10 or so years and she is so laid back and nice.  She informed me yesterday during defensive driving that we have an easy, laid back house and after 7pm, there really isn't much to do.

So yeah, it's been crazy.  I'm looking forward to my second home and having a lot of fun!  Even though there are still some things that I'm unsure about, I'm pretty excited about this opportunity and I think it's going to be good for me.

After my 4 hour evaluation on Saturday, I'll have from then until Monday morning off from work.  I'll start back up with classroom work on Monday morning.  I think class goes until Thursday of next week and then I'll be switching to my second shift schedule and will be going to the actual house where I'll be working.

Coffee and a pretty awesome training crew has helped me smoothly get through this process so far.  I'm very thankful for that.  The three of us went to Arby's for lunch one day and then I started bringing a lunch because having a pretty hefty mortgage and car loan payment, I can't afford to get lunch out everyday. 

But yeah, I definitely have plans of getting some much needed relaxation this weekend.

One quick little story before I end this post - 

Jason and I recently just changed service providers and went back to being Android users FINALLY.  When went into Sprint, we were dealing with the assistant manager and of course, they always ask you as part of the credit check what you do for a job, etc, etc.  So I told her that I worked with the Anderson County Special Needs and Disability Board.  Shortly after she asked that, she said something to the effect of "I'm not a retard if I keep asking for your phone numbers, the system just requires me to ask a lot".  I looked over at Jay and was thinking, 'really?'  Especially after you know what I do for a job, you're really going to say a line like that?  What nerve...and an assistant manager at that too...

Well, I'm cold and going to drown in my sheets for another 30 minutes or so.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!