The meeting with Diana went pretty smooth if I say so myself! =] We did a follow up and an analysis on the notes we took during the Focus Group. It was kind of hard to remember which notes went with which questions. During the Focus Group, Auntie Lou jumped around in her questions so it was hard to figure out what my notes were saying. (MY WRITING WAS PRETTY MESSY.) Next week on Thursday will be the last time we meet with Diana ( =[ ) so we need to finish up our analysis on the responses we received. Nikki and I are slowly developing a presentation for the dinner next week. HOPEFULLY WE GET IT ALL DONE!
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SUSU LADY???

Last night was the focus group discussion at GCN and man Nikki and I know how to put together the craziest group of women. The sad part is they all KNOW each other so they never shut up! [BUT IN THIS SITUATION IT IS OK!] The focus group in my opinion went GREAT! Everyone gave input and kept the conversation going. Everyone played off of everyone's suggestions and ideas. When asked what a Patient Navigator should know, the women said their top 3 things were: RESPECT, SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE CULTURE AND LANGUAGE, AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY. The Chamorro culture is very big on respect, all of our beliefs are based off of respect. They said the referrals would feel more comfortable with the PN's if they had the same respect towards them as they would receive. Another major point was having knowledge about the culture and language. Even if the PN is not Chamorro but they have lived on the island and they know the basic words in Chamorro, that the referral would feel more comfortable with them. The last major theme was confidentiality. Chamorro people or just people in general, don't like having their business put out there for everyone to know. So I think the women really stressed that the PN needs to know that whatever is said between the PN and the referral is only between them. The women had also mentioned that the program really needs to start in Guam so that the people know when they come to the mainland, there will be a PN there already waiting for them. Maybe the program can potentially produce a brochure or get some ads on GUAM PDN. I think overall the topics and ideas that were discussed were extremely helpful for Auntie Lou and Diana. I learned even more about the Patient Navigation Program and I hope I can contribute to the progression of the program. :D I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!! Oh! It was hilarious hearing Auntie Lou tell us about how people call her the SUSU LADY because she is always out in the Community talking about breast cancer. HAHA! Man Auntie Lou has no shame but we still LOVE HER! Her story was quite educational! =]
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Preparing

Work yesterday went well, all we did was do our last preparation for our focus group that is happening Tuesday. Also, Diana went over some information in a print out packet. I did reminder calls to everyone who is attending the focus group to ensure their appearance. I was able to do a little work on my transcription. I understand the importance of transcriptions in research, however, I really wish I was able to do more hands on work in the Community. Hopefully I'll be able to do something different than transcriptions. =/

My Own Baggage

On Friday, Nikki and I went to an Edison Asian/Pacific Islander conference/workshop with Uncle Joey to shadow him while he does his community work. I learned a lot of cool tips to keep in mind when I need to make a presentation or if I need to go to a conference. I saw the different ways presenters spoke and used their power points. It was cool to watch Uncle Joey in his own work element. I took a lot of good tips away from the Edison workshop. :D
After we headed over to GCN to attend another workshop with the other Pipeline Interns. It was good to see everyone again. We listened to a presentation by Alek which touched based on Qualitative and Quantitative Research. He went over what I already knew and learned from Diana. We also heard a presentation by Yvonne. I really enjoyed her presentation and how she compared everything to "baggage." I think every intern was able to relate to what she was saying because where ever we go, we take our own personal baggage with us. At the end of the workshop we talked about what we were going to need to do during our OCAPICA dinner in September. Nikki and I are going to do our presentation together so we fought our way with Sani and Kuuipo for our black poster boards. LOL So we need to work oln it and make it beautiful!!! =]

MUY FRIO!!!******

So apparently today in the office it was SNOWING! =/ It must have been 0 degrees at GCN. NOT FLY! =[ I needed some kind of mittens or something. I could have sworn it was still summer. I spent some time trying to register for my fall classes (I know I'm late doing in) and WOW getting classes is so much EFFORT! lol I mean I knew college wasn't going to be easy but jeez just for my courses its like I have to fight for them. =/ NO BUENO. I think that was a reality check for me to realize I have to stay on my "A-GAME." I haven't even started and I;m already dreading this semester =[ and people say college was the best experience they've had. Well hopefully as goes well and I get all my classes. I wasn't able to do much transcriptions like I hoped to because we had to leave the office early but I think I'll be able to finish it within the next 2 days I go in.

UHHH?????HUH????

So Nikki, Uncle Joey, and I called Diana today to check in and give her an update on our progress. She told us about coding and what the purpose of our transcriptions were, man another SUPER LONG PROCESS! I don't think it's worse than transcriptions. =] We learned about Margaret Mead, an Anthropologist, who traveled to Samoa and lived there for 10 years. Mead wrote a book about the sexual tendecies of the young Samoan women. We also talked about our focus group and what we have done for that. I'm excited to see how the focus group goes and what everyone says about the program they are going to be presented. I hope within the next 2 or 3 days I will finish my transcriptions! YAY! I'm almost done! WOOT WOOT!!! =] This long process will almost be done so that I can do other stuff with Diana. hopefully these next 2 or 3 days go as planned! HAHA! :D

WAY TO DIFICULT

COMPLETE EPIC FAIL! So since the UCLA workshop was cancelled, I decided to come into GCN with Nikki to work on making up those hours. It's such a fail! I'm so tired and I'm trying hard not to fall asleep listening to Uncle Joey's voice. =[ I can't concentrate when Uncle Joey made me drink a 2oz shot of wheat grass. NO FLY! That totally killed my Jamba Juice. And I'm STARVING! Not HUNGRY! There's a huge difference! I'm taking a break from transcriptions because I think I'm going to die! But I gotta get it done. Yay???? =/