Kirsten Kelly
Holly Papas
ENG 101
05 May 2017
[Title]: [Subtitle]
Nothing should go into your body with out consent. When you’re in the military, some things are mandatory, with or with out consent. Joining the Army was scary and exciting at the same time. Every experience was new, including what my friends and I called “the hall of shots.”
One of the requirements for military service is ensuring that you are up to date on all of your vaccines. During basic training, they had all of us new recruits form a huge line and walk into an auditorium filled with tables set up as stations. Each station had different immunizations and when we got to the station we handed them our paper, they gave us the immunization, then they signed the paper saying they gave the shot, and we moved on to the next station until we received all our shots. Most of us joked about the Army injecting us with crazy things and we wouldn’t even know it, others really took that to heart and still believe they’ve been injected with something other than what they were told. Me personally, I don’t know if I believe they would inject us with something completely different than what they were told, but I do believe the military would cut costs by trying new drugs using service members as kind of focus group. Since most medications need government approval the government can use humans they consider government property (by law) as their own little guinea pigs.
Between 1922 through 1975 it is estimated that 70,000 soldiers were used in chemical experiments. These soldiers signed up on a volunteer basis with bribes of guaranteed weekend passes when not being experimented on, and not having to perform cleaning duties. They were not told what they were being injected with and some of these injections came with up to 40 hours worth of hallucinations. Most of the soldiers that have been experimented on have since passed away however, they have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army to find out exactly what they were injected with. Recently, NPR and the Military Times reported the veterans won in court however, the Army has filed for a rehearing.
Army Private Tim Josephs remembered about his experience in 1968 with the Army’s experimentations. He was shipped to Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland with false promises of 3 day weekends to his home. PVT Josephs was under the impression that he was going to text out new equipment however, when he saw it was nothing more than a hospital he raised his concerns to an officer. “He said, ‘You volunteered for this. You’re going to do it. If you don’t, you’re going to jail. You’re going to Vietnam either way — before or after.'” (CNN)
It’s not only the secret testing that shows that service members are guinea pigs, it’s also a problem that the military would rather save a dollar than ensure the well being of human beings fighting for their country. As the Military Times reported a common malaria drug the military mandates to service members who go to areas where malaria is common, mimics symptoms of PTSD. The drug called Mefloquine was prescribed 50,000 times in 2003. The drug was developed in the 1970’s by the U.S. Army and was found to be potent and toxic back then. The doctor who researched it back then, Dr. Remington Nevin, said “any distribution of the drug is too much.” Having known this already, the military still injected service members with the drug, 50,000 times in one year. It wasn’t until 2015 that the FDA put a black box warning on the drug that it stopped being used as much, now only if the person can’t tolerate any other treatment. (Adding more)

Service members used as human testers for immunizations, vaccines, and other chemicals making sure it is safe/effective for humans before actually being used on the general population.

 

Direct Order | Soldiers Ordered to Take Anthrax Vax That Caused Brain Damage

 

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/2016/08/11/malaria-drug-causes-permanent-brain-damage-case-study/88528568/

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/09/05/437555125/veterans-used-in-secret-experiments-sue-military-for-answers

 

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/01/health/human-test-subjects/

 

http://www.militarytimes.com/story/military/benefits/health-care/2015/07/11/court-finds-in-favor-of-veterans-used-in-secret-experiments/29873199/

 

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/08/21/are-secret-vaccinations-killing-soldiers.aspx

Kirsten Kelly
Mrs. Holly Papas
ENG 101
26 April 2017
Cancer: More than a physical diagnosis
Once you’ve had cancer, you live with the fear of recurrence for life. Every pain brings on the anxiety that you have cancer again. I personally have been in remission for five years from stage III B cervical cancer that had metastasized to my intestines, liver, and behind my left kidney. I went through four months or so of chemotherapy treatment t the Bamberg Klinikum (hospital).
Mentally, I struggled with my diagnosis daily. Some days I felt strong enough to fight and survive, other days I just wanted to give up. The stress from being in pain and the side effects of the chemo were too much to handle, I just wanted it to be over, I didn’t care if that meant my life would be too.
A lot of my strength came from my platoon. Six months before my diagnosis, my mother had passed away. I was raised as an only child by her so I didn’t have a strong relationship with my father at the time. My platoon sergeant, Staff Sergeant (SSG) Robert Norton, was always there for me during my treatment in Germany. Anytime I felt down, I would call him and cry or just vent and he would send my whole platoon to my hospital room just to lift my spirits. If it wasn’t for him, my platoon, and my whole unit to be honest, I would have given up.
In the article entitled “Smile! You’ve got cancer” Barbara Ehrenreich explores he psychotherapy involved in cancer treatment. Ehrenreich is a breast cancer survivor who at the time she found out, felt she was not going to be diagnosed with cancer. She said she felt that she took care of herself regards to eating healthy and exercising, so when the doctors found a lump on her breast she was confident it was benign. However, upon diagnosing, she was overwhelmed with anger. Every book she read and every blog she posted on she was met with the reaction that cancer is a blessing and to “keep positive”. Ehrenreich felt that she was alone in being outrage about her diagnoses, which in turn made her feel even more alone going through treatment. She also explains that she felt she lost her identity, that she was becoming one with cancer, because she would have to get breast implants, a wig, and every time any medical professional talked to her it was in regards to the tumor. In May of 2007, Ehrenreich read an article in Psychological Bulletin by James Coyne who studied the effects of a constant positive outlook during cancer treatment and if there were negative effects to avoiding talking about such feelings as anger and depression. He found that patients would rely on the positive attitude curing cancer when treatment didn’t help and would blame themselves if either treatment failed or the cancer came back, which he believes is negative.
I don’t know if I can necessarily blame doctors for avoiding talking about the negative, generally they try to give hope, not take it away. However, doctors could tell patients it’s normal to feel the way they do. Treatment centers, such as the Cancer Treatment Centers in America, are now acknowledging the fact that psychological care during cancer treatment is crucial.
“Breast cancer, I can now report, did not make me prettier or stronger, more feminine or spiritual. What it gave me, if you want to call this a “gift”, was a very personal, agonizing encounter with an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before – one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune and blame only ourselves for our fate.”-Ehrenreich. I couldn’t agree more with this quote, however, I wouldn’t keep it exclusive to just American culture. Most people tend to turn a near death experience into a positive experience. Dealing with possibly dying from an illness is a very personal thing and in my opinion it gives you a new understanding about yourself….but I wouldn’t call it a gift.
Works Cited
Cancer Treatment Centers of America. 2017, http://www.cancercenter.com/community/managing-side-effects/emotional-psychological/. Accessed 16 April 2017.

Ehrenreich, Barbara. Smile! You’ve got cancer. The Guardian, 1 Jan. 2010, https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jan/02/cancer-positive-thinking-barbara-ehrenreich. Accessed 16 April 2017.

In the article entitled “Smile! You’ve got cancer” Barbara Ehrenreich explores he psycotherapy involved in cancer treatment. Ehrenreich is a breast cancer survivor who at the time she found out, felt she was not going to be diagnosed with cancer. She said she felt that she took care of herself regards to eating healthy and exercising, so when the doctors found a lump on her breast she was confident it was benign. However, upon diagnosing, she was overhelmed with anger. Every book she read and every blog she posted on she was met with the reaction that cancer is a blessing and to “keep positive”. Ehrenreich felt that she was alone in being outrage about her dignoses, which in turn made her feel even more alone going through treatment. She also explains that she felt she lost her identity, that she was becoming one with cancer, because she would have to get breast implants, a wig, and every time any medical professional talked to her it was in regards to the tumor. In May of 2007, Ehrenreich read an article in Psychological Bulletin by James Coyne who studied the effects of a constant positive outlook during cancer treatment and if there were negative effects to avoiding talking about such feelings as anger and depression. He found that patients would rely on the positive attitude curing cancer when treatment didn’t help and wou blame themselves if either treatment failed or the cancer came back, which he believes is negative. “Breast cancer, I can now report, did not make me prettier or stronger, more feminine or spiritual. What it gave me, if you want to call this a “gift”, was a very personal, agonising encounter with an ideological force in American culture that I had not been aware of before – one that encourages us to deny reality, submit cheerfully to misfortune and blame only ourselves for our fate.”-Ehrenreich.

Kirsten Kelly
Holly Pappas
English 101
April 4th, 2017
Ethnography: A day in the life of a CNA
Certified Nuring Assistant is the most under-rated and under-paid profession in the medical field. When you compare the work they do to the pay they receive, it’s heartbreaking. I interviewed my best friend Ashley who is 31 and has been working as a CNA at Marion Manor in Taunton MA, for a little over 13 years. She started working there because she wanted to make a difference in people’s lives and felt she would get the most fulfillment workking in a nursing home.
Marian Manor is a huge three floor, sand stone colored elderly home. As you walk to the front entrance on Summer street you see a black wraught iron fence with colorful flowers bursting in between. Walking under the red awning stretching from the street to the building walking in between red, blue, purple, yellow, orange fower patches that make up a garden on either side of the walkway with typical green and glass patio sets as well.
Walking through the doors you can smell the musk of old people. On the left hand side there are 3 brown leather chairs and the right is the activity center where the elderly can play bingo and what not. The carpet is an old blue, red, and gold pattern with pale blue on the outside and there are stair cases on either side leading to the second floor. A little further up from the activity center there is a staff desk that goes around approximately 345-degrees around; it is brown oak with the back half consisting mostly of cabinets. The walls have various paintings of historic Taunton and sunsets.
If you were to come during 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. there would be a lot going on. Residents walking about, visitors, doctors doing rounds, various activities, etc. Ashley, a certified nursing assistant (CNA), works third shift, which at this particular nursing home, is between the hours of 11 p.m. to 7 a.m..
Coming in to work, the first thing Ashley does, is perform a safety check. She has to physically lay eyes on each of her patients and ensure that they are ok. She also ensures they have what they call adl, which stands for assisted daily living and includes activities such as brushing their teeth, brushing their hair, bathing, dressing and anything else they need.
Mostly the CNA’s work one on one with the residents but sometimes there are bariatrics that need help being repositioned or even changed (dressing or incontinence) so the CNA’s will team up to get the resident taken care of. Everything that is done to or for the residents is required to be documented. Sometimes, the residents may be on doctor’s orders to have their INO (intake/ output) monitored which could entail measuring how much a resident urinates/ defecates as well as how much they ate/ drank. In Ashley’s position, she deals with actual paper work, while the nurses will document their care in a computer.
During the night, because most residents are sleeping, Ashley will do safety checks every 15 minutes, fill out her flowsheets which is where she documents her care, and her alarm check sheet, used in documenting the checking of pressure alarms and changing of the batteries. She will repeatedly does this through out the night until morning time when some of the early rising residents get bathed and served breakfast.
Sometimes there may be behavioral problems from the residents. Ashley says that it’s very common for the elderly to experience what is called sun downer’s. She said they could be a calm and happy resident but some time after 6 p.m. or so they could start screaming, trying to get out, throwing things. Some even go as far as physically harming the CNA’s by biting, scratching, punching, etc. Ways they avoid the abuse is by having someone assist with care for the resident, distracting them with either conversation or having someone take their attention away from care being received, often cases they will give the resident some space and come back later when the resident has calmed down.
The residents rooms are made to look like actual living area instead or a hospital setting. Aside from the medical type bed the only other medical equipment is anything the resident may require like oxygen. They have their own pictures on the wall and any other personal effects they want or require.
Ashley says that sometimes her and the other CNA’s feel cheated, they do most of the back breaking labor of the moving/ lifting of residents and get paid the least amount of wages, which as I was told Marian Manor’s starting salary is .50 cents above minimum wage.
I was not able to go I to the part of the home where the patients live, only in the front area where the main desk is. I asked Ashley why she continued to work in such an under appreciated part of the medical field and she simply replied “because I love them.” When I asked her to elaborate she explained that it isn’t always back breaking and the reens can make it fun.
“One day we were all sitting in the dining room and the residents were eating their dinner like normal, however, this night was different. That night the residents weren’t eating their dinner at the nursing home, that night a group of about 5-7 of them were eating dinner on a cruise ship. At least, that’s what they were convinced they were doing. For some reason, may be they over heard someone talking about a cruise, but they were convinced that the CNAs and other staff members were the ship crew. They kept commenting on how nice the ship was, saying the rooms were lovely, asking how much experience the captain had, and at the end of the night after we had put them down for the night, they tried to tip us!”
I laughed and said “Aw that is sweet, so you guys all played along?”
Ashley replied, “Yes because it’s hard to explain to someone who is so confused about reality wat’s going on and even more difficult when you have a handful of them. We didn’t necessarily play along, we just didn’t correct them, and we were doing what we would do any other night. They said they did like the service and everything was back to normal the next day.”

I liked this essay very much! It flows very nicely an has some great insight. You gave great visuals for the relationship/ bond Lindsay and Lennix have. Maybe something to consider is to throw in some descriptions of what they look like n how they live (ex. apartment or house, what some of the rooms look like). It seems like the main theme of your essay is how a single parent/ only child bond is unique and closer than most parent/ child relationships.