Wildlife monitoring - Service Learning

On May 26th, I went to go wildlife monitoring in Mulkiteo with a lady named Grace who took a few other people. It is an event that is held on Friday mornings from 9:30 am to noon. She can be contacted by grace.coale@email.edcc.edu.
The things that we did during this event was to change batteries and memory cards of cameras that were out in a little forest area. We learned that the cameras were set up to catch any wildlife that may be around the area and to learn more about them. We also did some tracking and learned about the different ways to identify the different footprints that you may come across.

part of the trail that we walked through.

For example, at the beginning, we discovered dog paw prints and were able to learn about what state the dog was in and how to know it was a dog instead of any other animal. How we were able to determine the first tracks we saw were dogs because they were all over the place, which one could assume is a dog out wandering like any dog would. Another thing that helped us determine it may be a dog is the depth of the pawprint. The ones that we found were pretty deep so it was assumed that the dog was running around the area. The last thing that we used to determine it was a dog's pawprint was the shape of it.

Moutain beaver footprint in the mud

The picture above is a track that is from a mountain beaver from what we thought. After seeing this grace took us to one of the dens of these mountain beavers and told us about the camera that was located around the den. She taught us some of the behaviors that these animals tend to have and how hard it is to actually try to take a picture of them in their dens because it would be like whack a mole with how fast they'd move from the different holes in their den.

 I think that by doing this event it could really help you see and learn about the wildlife from a different perspective. Usually, people don't just randomly go out into the woods if they don't know what's out there. By having the cameras out there it really helps to capture what may be lurking in the woods that are near to us without us actually being out there ourselves when we are still in doubt. By doing this it could lead to new discoveries and maybe break assumptions. For example, Grace had told us about how some of the residents around the area talked about their cats being eaten and I think that having the cameras that are able to sensor movement would be a real big help to see if it is possibly true or not and what the cause of this could be.

Questions that I have now after this event is are What would make people think that their pets may be getting eaten by a species such as a mountain beaver and if they've had any evidence for it. Another was how often can you eat nettle and what would happen if you eat too much of it. What kind of nutrients does nettle contain? 

Blood Donation -- Service learning

1. I volunteered at an blood donation event that was being sponsored by my church (Church Of Christ) in Shoreline, WA. I had volunteered as a medical volunteer from 10am--2pm on May 13th, 2017. The event coordinator that was responsible for this event was Fernando Guaren Jr. and can be contacted at fguarenjr@me.com

2. The organization that had sponsored the blood drive was the "Felix Y. Manalo Foundation" and it's goal and purpose was to give back and help the community we live in. It's other goals were to also introduce healthcare to people of the church and the community around the church and to also provide blood donations for local blood banks and hospitals such as Bloodworks Northwest.

3. My duties as a medical volunteer at the blood donation was to set up tables, and provide/make/pass out food to those who did donate blood that day. I helped those who donated blood eat, and relax and made sure that they were feeling okay after giving them the care they needed.

One of the signs of the event that showed where visitors and blood donors could donate.

My badge to let the staff know that I was a medical volunteer and there to help any of the staff if needed. 

4. Volunteering at this blood donation gave me insight to how important it is to provide blood in order to support patients at local hospitals. I learned from one of the medical doctors who performed the blood donations,  how the blood is processed. Blood is separated into three components, plasma, platelets and red cells and these components are transfused into a patient who needs any of these components and that each donation means saving up to three lives. I learned that these donations make a great impact for many people who need blood transfusions, and how important and life saving it is to always have some kind of blood ready for a transfusion at any given time. This event helped me understand how important it is to also help those who had just donate blood because donors tend to have mixed reactions after giving blood (such as not feeling well, fainting, etc.) The after care (which i provided) of giving food to those who needed it was important so that the donors won't have bad reactions. 

In this event, some connections i made to some of the things that were mentioned in class was how important it is to analyze the blood calcium in a person's blood before giving blood. Before people donate blood, they must answer surveys, and a screening process to understand how the donors blood nutrient levels. If anything abnormal, such as low iron, infections, etc., the donor would have to be declined. I learned that from what I learned in class that it's important to know their history for any medical complications to make sure that they would have an easy time donating time. 

Human biology is interdisciplinary because in this event, I not only able to apply what I learned from this class, but I needed to be able to apply what I know of nutrition and other chemicals to understand how the human body would react to the blood donation and what was needed in order for an individual to donate blood. And without understanding such concepts, it would make it harder for me to understand why I would be volunteering for this event. 

5. Questions:

-Why is it so hard for certain people to donate blood? is it fear? 

-How does the body accept blood that doesn't come from them?

-How long can blood donations be stored before it cannot be used, does it have an expiration date? 

-What happens to the body if it was given blood that wasn't considered good?

  

“Save a life” – A quick & easy Hands- Only CPR.-- Kusuma Ayithepalli

                               “Save a life” – A quick & easy Hands- Only CPR. 

On Thursday, April 13 th, I volunteered at the Citizen CPR Event for two hours. The event was organized at Edmonds Community College and sponsored by Premera Blue Cross and American Red Cross. This event’s main goal was to provide Snohomish county residents with hands-only CPR training and ultimately, increase sudden cardiac arrest survival rates.  At the event, my duties primarily consisted of greeting participants, holding sign in the hallway to guide them to the correct location of the event (Woodway room no.202) and later I did staffing the registration table. During this time, I encouraged people to sign up and handed over the kits consisting of items pertaining to CPR training that were sponsored by American Red Cross, Snohomish County (Figure 1&2).

             At the event, there were three instructors and a translator from the Red Cross, who explained the importance and benefits of hands-on CPR. While the training was intended to teach the participants, I found myself learning some new things as well. I was surprised that despite the US being a developed country, every year more than 300,000 people suffered from cardiac arrest outside of the hospital, leading to death. But what was more shocking was that performing CPR during the crucial period after a cardiac arrest/collapse nearly doubled the chances of survival, often times preventing death. After presenting these statistics, Chuck Morrison, Executive Director at American Red cross, Snohomish county (chuck.morrison@redcross.org) and the other instructors shared their experiences of saving  lives of a couple of strangers by performing CPR on time. While the statistics effectively highlighted the problem and solution, the experiences offered an emotional perspective of the event’s goals, giving me a complete understanding of the importance of learning hands-on CPR. Furthermore, during the training, I helped  in answering questions using my background knowledge of biology. For example, when one of the instructors asked everyone to place a squeeze toy on a handout (Figure.1) at the center of the sternum, a participant asked me, “Is the heart at the center?” Being a biology student, I was able to explain her the correct location of the heart. Being able to answer questions was satisfying for me, since it allowed me to use my knowledge in biology to help others. Moreover, I was able to help the person sitting next to me, explain the proper technique of using upper body strength and weight while learning to give the stokes  during the CPR, which involved identifying extension at the elbow joint and extension at wrist joint . It was self-assuring for me to be able to connect theoretical knowledge I had learned in the classroom to practical and realistic situations.

    Participating in this event allowed me to examine the role of science in society as a way of improving human life. Being able to explain the scientific process of performing CPR allows people to understand exactly what happens to the human body, thereby increasing a person’s chance of survival. Here, science can be perceived as a vehicle through which we can better the state of our lives. Furthermore, being able to make a contribution through service to the community allowed me to help people an important survival skill. The event was crucial in spreading this knowledge, by making CPR training accessible and free of cost. Finally, the event established a sense of bonding between the participants, which will positively influence the probability of the participants saving a family member’s/ stranger’s life by using hands-only CPR during a life-threatening situation.

           

 Looking at the bigger picture, it can be assumed that biology is interdisciplinary because it requires an understanding of human beings through multiple perspectives, including, behavioral, social and cultural perspectives. A human being’s life is influenced by their daily habits, their relationships, and their culture. These aspects in turn, affect their physical activity, their mental state and their diet, which factor into the study of human biology. Therefore, it can be concluded that human biology is a broad field which focuses on how humans live in order to discover their nature.

Questions like these below popped in my mind:

Does this event takes place every quarter/year?

What are the limitation for conducting such free events?

Can these events be done in other languages so that many more people can be motivated to learn this life saving skill?

 I hope more and more organizations should come forward to conduct such events in our community because acquiring this knowledge and skill can mean the difference between life and death for any citizen.


          Figure 1

          Figure 2

Wildlife Monitoring - Ecology in Mukilteo, WA

1.  I attended an Ecology opportunity to complete the Service Learning Requirement for Biology 241 at Edmonds Community College.  The name of the event was 'Wildlife Monitoring in Mukilteo' and is held Fridays from 9:00a to noon. This event is organized by Ms. Grace Coale who can be contacted via email at grace.coale@email.edcc.edu.

Ms. Grace Coale explaining the details of the camera

2. This event is sponsored by the City of Mukilteo and the Snohomish County Airport in cooperation with Edmonds Community College.  The goals of the event were to locate two of the ten motion-sensor/infrared cameras in Big Gulch to change batteries and retrieve the memory card. The images on the cameras create a record of the animals passing through the area.  This data serves in evaluating possible detrimental impact on the area from society.

Locating the first camera

Mounted motion-sensing infrared camera

3. For this specific event, volunteers ventured into Big Gluch with a guide and searched for strategically placed cameras. Once located, we replaced the batteries and memory cards. After the cameras were serviced, the volunteers were educated about local wildlife activity. These specific cameras were recording the travel of a couple of young bucks on the trail as well as the activity of a mountain beaver den. Volunteers were also educated on native plants like Salmonberry and stinging nettles.

Antler rub on sapling

4. Science in society is crucial to not only understanding human impact on the environment, but to also protect and sustain valuable spaces in the region.  At times, taking environmental action could seem inconvenient with busy schedules kept by most people in the 21st century. This experience showed me how easy it is to engage my environment in a simple but meaningful way.  The aim of this volunteer work was to determine possible detrimental impact of society on the wildlife within the region. 'Wildlife Monitoring in Mukilteo' uses data collection which aides in proactively protecting green space in Snohomish County.  The simple task of replacing some batteries and retrieving a memory card contributes to a long-term data set, used to evaluate changes occurring within that biosphere. Excellent stewardship is key to the health of the biosphere as populations continue to grow.  Ultimately, stewardship will become a greater aspect of our lives to preserve environments to ensure that humans are able to thrive mentally and physically. 

In this course, we learned about sensory receptors, the muscular system and thermoregulation, among other concepts. As we were navigating the gulch, the sunlight shown through the trees, birds were vocal in the canopy above our heads and a small stream gurgled at the bottom of the ravine.  Sensing these moments with the receptors in my cochlea, fovea and olefactory bulb, inhaling the fresh air to service my muscles during the hike and perspiring to cool my body down are all direct examples of physiological responses I experienced.  Human biology is interdisciplinary because an understanding of basic physics and chemistry, as well as the ability to extrapolate from other biological arenas creates a thorough and well-rounded picture of us as a people and society.  To evaluate humans from the organism to the scale of the society allows for the most beneficial impact to our direct environment because different needs and consequences are considered.

Salmonberry appetizer

Stinging nettles along the trail

5.  Questions raised during my service learning activity:

What does the mountain beaver eat?

How can I prepare stinging nettles for consumption?

What nutrients are bioavailable in Salmonberry that aren't already found in my diet?

How does the water treatment facility in Big Gulch test the treated water before returning it to the environment?

How can I become more involved in projects like this as an average citizen in society?

Where is stewardship the most prioritized in the region (so I can move there)?

Looking for tracks under bridge

 

Tracks found near stream under bridge

Service Learning - A Day on 10 South, Sukriti Kaur

1.  The event I did was volunteer as a Health Scholar at Providence Hospital on May 28th, 10:30 am  to 2:30 pm. I volunteered on the floor 10 South, a medical surgical floor, at Colby Campus in     Everett. The coordinator in charge for this floor is Karli Daniels and she can be reached at, prmce10s@copehealthscholars.org 

2. The organization that sponsored this event is Cope Health Scholars. The purpose of Cope Health Scholars is to provide people that are interested in the medical field to gain patient care experience. Cope Health Scholars offers opportunities to any individuals interested in further learning and wanting to gain more knowledge that will help them, no matter what step they are in their career path. 

3. I have many duties when I'm volunteering at Providence Hospital. Some of the duties I do are taking vital signs of patients, changing bed linen, walking patients, discharging patients, etc.

 

This is a picture of me with one of the CNA's that I worked with on following day. 

This is a picture of the floor sign.

4. Volunteering at Providence Hospital has made me realize how much volunteers at a hospital can affect the healing of patients. The staff members at a hospital have duties to do. For example, surgeons, doctors, nurses, physical therapist, respiratory therapist, etc, all have duties to fulfill and are running around all around helping trying to help patients recover physically and mentally. Everything is a rush at a hospital. There are thousands of people to help and I feel like that's where volunteers come in. Volunteers take the time to sit down and have patient interaction. Knowing all the important subjects such as chemistry, biology, anatomy, physiology is important but having compassion towards the patients in necessary. I realized that through volunteering. The nurses and doctors get so busy and caught up with their jobs that the patients who have been admitted for a long time start to feel like a burden, even to ask for the smallest things like a warm blanket. When I used to round on the patients and check if they needed anything, most of the time they wouldn't but they would ask who I was, and thank me for my time and service to helping patients like them. Lots of the patients feel lonely sometimes too since family isn't there always and so I would take the time to sit down with a patient and just talk to them. I could tell the really appreciated that and felt welcomed and important. Even though I was just a volunteer, I felt like I was giving a lot to the hospital by interacting with patients and making them feel welcomed and not like a burden. One of the tasks I have to do a lot as a health scholar is take vital signs. This relates to human anatomy because you learn about normal heart rate, respiration count, pulse, temperature, all items that are vital to human survival. All these vital signs work together to keep a human body running, just like all the organ systems work together with one another to help keep a body functioning. Human biology is interdisciplinary because it's not just one core concept. Biology is from the cellular level to a whole organism. All the human organs interact with one another to keep a body functioning properly. 

Questions: 

1) How much plastic/supplies/materials are wasted or thrown away due to excessive safety precaution measurements? 

2) How many patients are admitted on average in one day in each different department of the hospital (ER, Surgery, Renal, etc.)? 

3) How often do surgeons come on the floor and for what cases?

4) How much electricity and water is used daily to run the laundry facility? 

My service learning in a farm work party Prisca

MY SERVICE LEARNING AT A FARM WORK PARTY

1-      On Monday, May 15^th  2017 , I did my service learning on the campus farm located near

the golf.  The supervisor of the farm is Marni Swart and her email address is marni.swart@email.edcc.edu). My son and I volunteer for 2 hours.

2-      The event (farm work party) was organized by the department of biology on a sunny day and directed by Jenny and Gwen. The purpose of the event was to participate at the service learning but more than that, it was to contribute in a farm work.

3-      I was really happy to participate at this event because it made me remember my childhood. In the farm I harvest green and red lettuce and also removed bad plant from the bed. The bed was the place where the plant of the garden grow. My son and I had a funny day.

4-      By participated at this event, I was able to realize and remember that working in the farm was very exciting and demand more energy than people think. When I go to do my grocery, I don’t care about organic or non-organic.  After I have participated at this event, it changed my mind on what kind of fruit or product (organic or non-organic) I have to buy because the right choice (organic), I will reduce the consummation of pesticide. I learned that it is better for us to choose organic strawberry than non-organic because the skin of strawberry is thin. If we buy a non-organic, there is more pesticide that we could not wash off. If we eat it everyday, we store more chemical in our body which is bad for our health.  If think the connection between the farm work party and the course is that we use our muscle to do all the activity related to the farm. As we start to work in the fam, our muscle contract and become muscle force but after a period the strength of the muscle become weak so we see that in term of muscle fatigue. Another connection will be working in a sunny day in the farm could have some impact on the skin. We could have first degree skin burn since we are directly exposed to sunburn. In our course, we talked about the integumentary system and different type of burn.  Biology is interdisciplinary because it is connected to chemistry, nutrition and more. Healthy food produced in the farm help our body to remain healthy since there are no pesticide in those product. Also biology is interdisciplinary because everything that we learn in real life is connected to biology. For example, food rich in carbohydrate contribute to the production of ATP which give us energy to even participate in the farm.

The picture of my son ( Khalil) working at the farm.

5-       

Are students from other college or from the community allow to volunteer at the farm?

What advice that someone new to farm activity can have if he want to be involve in this life?

How new technology influence the work that farmer do?

Can I create my own rain garden if I have a space and how can I do that?