Block 7 - Week 1 - Rotation and Adventures

Hi everyone!

    My name is John, and I will be posting the follow-up to Tom’s travel and house post. My post will focus more on the rotation, things we have been able to do after rotation, and our first weekend in Wyoming.

     

    Tom and I were able to come up a couple of days early to get settled before the rotation officially started. We pulled into Fort Washakie around 6 PM. The next morning, we made a list of groceries and things that we needed for the house. The two closest options were Safeway and Mr. D’s in Lander which is about 20-30 minutes from the house. Safeway probably has a slightly larger selection, but Tom and I found that Mr. D’s had better prices. That afternoon we went to Sink’s Canyon State Park to see what was out there. We ended up going on our hike during the “first good snow of the season” according to the pharmacists, but it was a fun hike, especially in the snow. We went about 4 miles (only losing a phone in the snow once) and ended up having to turn back before we could reach the end of the trail we had started down since the sun was setting, but we will be back for sure. 

 

     We spent our first week at the Ethete clinic which is about 10-15 minutes from the student house and spent most of the time getting oriented. The three clinics that we will be at during rotation are in Ethete, Arapahoe, and Riverton. The clinic setup is unique as far as pharmacies go since it is attached to a clinic so there are a lot of opportunities to interact with the rest of the medical team that is caring for the patients. We both got the opportunity to wear continuous glucose monitors for the first couple weeks of the rotation to see how meals and activity can impact our blood glucose. During our first week we mostly helped with day-to-day pharmacy operations, but we also we able to help with a couple of different projects related to the management of type 2 diabetes. As others have said, Katherine is very flexible with hours and allows us to have time during the day to explore the surrounding area.

    Speaking of exploring, Tom and I have been able to fit a lot of different hikes and trips into our first week. We had no idea that there was something called the “Sinks” and the “Rise” in Sink’s Canyon until we talked to some of the staff at the clinic that told us about them. The Sinks are basically a cave where the Middle Popo Agie River flows into, and then it runs underground until it comes out at the Rise further down the canyon. We decided that after work we could go and check it out for ourselves. This is a good thing to do after rotation since it’s right off the road and can be done in about an hour.

 

 

    Later in the week, Tom and I decided to hike to the Falls of Sinks Canyon. We knew it was about a 2-mile hike in, so we figured we could make it there in time to see the Falls, but we would likely be hiking out in the dark. The hike up took us about an hour and a half and wasn’t bad until we had to go over a hill/mountain to get to the Falls. Luckily one other person had taken the same trail as us and we were able to follow in their tracks, but the snow was still about two feet deep as we climbed up. Once we reached the top, we could hear the water running again so we figured that we were close. After about another quarter mile we finally made it as the sun was setting. After walking around the falls for a couple of minutes we decided it was time to head back since it was getting dark and we could see that there was snow on the way. The hike back was much faster since it was all downhill and we made it back to the truck after about 40 minutes.

 

    On Friday, we decided to rent some cross-country skis from Gannett Peak Sports since there are a lot of great trails nearby that are groomed for XC skiing. Everyone there is very helpful and happy to explain the basics of XC skiing and gave great recommendations on trails to try. Since there wasn’t enough time in the day we decided to go back to Sinks and get some practice on the skis. The next morning, we went to Beaver Creek which had been recommended by the folks at Gannett Peak Sports and some other people at the clinic that XC ski. The trail is pretty good for beginners and is well groomed, but you must quickly learn how to go uphill which took us some time to figure out. Once we got going on the trail though it was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone that has never done it. They are still waiting on the golf course, which is better for beginners, to get enough snow for the trail to be groomed so hopefully we will be able to go out there after this weekend. That night, since we were sore from skiing (and falling), we decided to go to Thermopolis. Thermopolis is a city about an hour and a half away from Fort Washakie that is home to Hot Springs State Park, and you can swim in the water of the hot springs. We went to Star Plunge and had a great time. They have indoor pools, outdoor pools, and a sauna there. There is also a museum with dinosaur fossils and an area full of petroglyphs ~30 miles from Thermopolis, which we unfortunately couldn’t do since it was too late.

 

    

    That pretty much covers everything that we did during week 1. So far, we have had an amazing time and have a lot more in store. We plan to post an update at least once a week, so be sure to stay tuned.

Until next time,

 

John