APPEs at Wind River Wyoming

Weeks two and three taught us valuable hands-on public health lessons about access to care, barriers, and patient motivation. Our week 2 started off with and would be defined by COVID-19 vaccine clinics. The tribe council the week of our arrival approved giving tribe members $50 reimbursement per shot for receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Fully vaccinated individuals could receive a compensation of up to $100. Additionally, if the tribe achieved 70% vaccination status, each member would receive $500. Given the financial incentive, the reservation was suddenly met with a huge burden from unvaccinated individuals requesting to be immunized. As pharmacy students we were able to play a crucial role in not only working the vaccine clinics, but running many aspects of the vaccine clinics.    The mantle of management and orchestrating interprofessional communication to ensure every aspect of proper immunization delivery (storage, documentation, intake, patient counseling, readiness a...

- Getting In and Week One Ben and I had the fortune of drawing the Wind River rotation a week after a schoolwide off week in APPEs at the end of July, so we could make use of all of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to drive about 8 hours a day for the ~24 hour drive from Birmingham. If you get this rotation without an off week in between your last rotation and this one, it’s a good idea to ask your preceptor if you can take off the last day of rotations to follow suit if you’re not comfortable with driving about 12 hours each day. Ben and I will attempt this on the way back, fingers crossed! We chose to stay at Hilton hotels for our two nights on the road, one in St. Charles (30 mins west of St. Louis) and one in Sidney, Nebreska (home to Cabela’s world headquarters). In my opinion, if you cross into Wyoming, you may as well try to make it all the way home to Fort Washakie since the hotel prices are much steeper in WY. What else is steeper in Wyoming are the gas prices, so it’s wise to fil...