I went to the health department this morning to get my immunizations. You can tell how excited I was about it.I discovered a couple things. One is that it must be very dangerous to visit the rest of the world, because they make you get a LOT of shots. Okay, I already knew that part. But it makes me wonder what people have to get shots for to come here from Africa. It seems to me that most of the things we worry about aren't really the kinds of things you can get shots for, like the common cold? And I'm sure we haven't tamed the new world so much that there aren't dangerous things about our landscape... hmm... kinda makes me wish i were a true public health person... Not really, though. I'd probably be scared all the time.
Another thing is that it must be very lonely to work in the health department. No one there seemed very friendly, but if you mentioned something you had even slightly in common with the nurses, they couldn't stop gushing. The international travel nurse told me I stole her heart when I said I was from Clemson. I didn't even say I was a tigers fan! (and don't get any ideas. I am not a tigers fan.) Most of the people there this morning were there to see the international travel nurse (let's call her ITN from now on--that's a long name!), but a few came in asking questions about general immunizations. About half of them, I inferred from their questions about forms, couldn't read. They looked exhausted. And it seems to me that if you worked in that office, your job would never end. There are always sick people, always people looking for help. The ITN said she never gets to go anywhere strange for vacation because she doesn't have time (and also grandchildren, but that's another story). She was so content about it, though. She said it wouldn't do any good for her to go try to do that work in Africa, but if she could make sure I wouldn't get sick while I was there, she was doing her part, and she felt like she got to go everywhere, just by listening to peoples' stories... huh... Food for Thought. I don't have the patience to do that, though. Not yet, maybe?
The Richland County Health Department (I cannot speak to other areas because I have no experience) is also very, very, very hard to find, even though it is only 1.6 miles from my dormitory door, according to mapquest. There is a complex of three buildings, which hold countless county offices, and you can't walk through any of the offices or buildings to get to the other ones. You have to walk all the way around to the other side. Which is really fun when it's 9:15, your appointment was at 9, you left at 8 (to be sure you had enough time--which, by the way, meant waking up at seven, a very unfriendly hour to college students), and it's pouring down rain. It wasn't my mistake, either. I even called the office to ask them where to go when I got lost, and I parked in the exact spot they told me to. I even asked to make sure once I finally found the office, and they said, "Yep, you parked in our visitor's spots!" You would think they could at least put up a sign with an arrow or something.
I hope I don't sound grumpy. But I am very tired and my shoulders are sore from--I think she said--Yellow Fever, HepA, and HepB shots (plus more I can't remember) and then getting punched in the shoulder by people who didn't know. Why is it that people always seem to punch you on the one day in the last seven years when you got a shot or four or seven?
