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In short, be proud.

Although I am still trying to digest the enormity of what we experienced throughout our time spent on this project, I believe that the best way to communicate its complexities is to do so while the moments are still fresh in my mind. I will try to form my thoughts as fully as possible, but I welcome anyone to help bridge any gaps where necessary. (One great function of anomalous states of knowledge is that they are drastically reduced as a result of team thinking.)

First, I must say how grateful I was to discover that not long after our return home, significant health care reform legislation completed its arduous journey across the House floor and onto the President’s desk. I may have some detractors on this point, so I promise that I will not base the remainder of my reflection on political ground; however, the fact of the matter bears noticing, as I was eagerly following the developments of this bill throughout our week in Brevard, observing daily just how far its implications could possibly reach. I sincerely hope that the proposed reforms provide access to quality, affordable healthcare for the people of Brevard and similar towns while reducing the strain on The Free Clinic and its numerous counterparts nationwide.

As you all know, I focused my efforts primarily on the technical side of the mission, so I never had any direct contact with the patients we were serving. On one hand, I regret this omission on my part (as I believe that my learning process would have only been further enriched by such interaction), but on the other, I am grateful that the skills of our group were balanced in such a way that I was able to focus my attention solely on that unwieldy beast of a spreadsheet in all its various incarnations. While I am at it, thank you again to everyone who helped forge that framework, especially Charles, who helped me hit the ground running in our strategically-placed kitchen office on Monday morning.

During the week, I had several tête-à-têtes with various teammates regarding how we felt about our progress in meeting Gary’s initial goals. I was somewhat surprised to hear so many people voice their concerns that we were not accomplishing nearly enough to have truly served the clinic; however, as I ruminated, I began to understand that these concerns were born not necessarily of pessimism, but of a shared visceral desire to do far greater than our best possible work for the sake of everyone who stood to benefit from it. I sympathize with everyone’s fears entirely, for I could not help but remain fully conscious of my great fortune as a healthy, insured individual, and therefore felt deeply compelled to repay my “cosmic debt” (if you will) for that fortune.

Despite our ongoing battles against the sides of ourselves that still may not be fully convinced we did the best we could, I would like to make the strongest case possible in favor of our efforts, enumerated below:

• We faced a foreign, intimidating set of problems head-on.
• We established an excellent team rapport in what must be record time.
• We responded to as many of the clinic’s needs as we could possibly address, and even tried to anticipate staff requests before they were made.
• Did I reiterate that we did this all in less than one week?

I have such respect for our entire team for a myriad of reasons, not least of which is everyone’s endless pursuit of honorable completion (because let us face it, we would be fools to expect perfection, and certainly no one was expecting it of us). In hindsight, perhaps we could have squeezed more hours out of each day and continued to work ourselves to the bone, but for my own sake and to honor everyone’s infectious passion, I must look back on what we accomplished and assert that it is far, far greater than whatever small details we did not accomplish.

Thursday, March 18: The Day after St. Patrick's Day

Thursday found all 10 of the terp avengers spread out over the waiting room, adjacent offices, and appointment desk like we had class on this floor. We restively pressed on with data entry and writing before our hike.

Jeff of Maine/not Maine offered to trade my St. Patrick's day chicken for a PB&J sandwich. I said no thank you, but added "Peanut, peanut butter! and Jelly!"

Mark mused, "I thought only I knew that song!" and Jeff chimed in, "Hahaha...I thought I'd be the only one here to know Peanut Butter and Jelly!"

Mark then danced a jig to Peanut Butter and Jelly which I don't believe anyone in the room(s) knew existed. And the narrowing cultural and generational chasm among us was bridged some more.

We gots a BLOG

Check this space for info on the 2010 UMD Grad Student Spring Break trip to Brevard, NC, as well as thoughts from the team!