Boy, I didn’t realize how big the Lee Memorial Health System is! LMHS has 76 locations in the Southwest Florida area and is home to more than 9,500 employees.
My general orientation on Monday was at Cape Coral Hospital, about a half hour away. I had to be there at 7:45am sharp to check in. This orientation was for future employees, I was sitting near nurses, security guards, and people working in transport. I learned about precautions I needed to know before working in the hospital such as infection control, risk management, corporate compliance, and customer service. It was refreshing to have an idea of what an actual job would feel like.
My second orientation was on Tuesday at the The Children's Hospital with my supervisor, Julie Avirett (who is very nice, I can tell everyone in the hospital loves her). I met her in the beautiful atrium at Health Park. The hospital lobby has glass elevators, a little pond area, and a grand piano where volunteers play throughout the week. She offered to buy me a coffee and had doughnuts waiting for me in the office which was very nice.
To start the day off I attended Pediatric Rounds, which are meetings for staff on the second floor to discuss the current patients’ status. After that, the majority of my day was devoted to paperwork and reading the hospital policies, AMTA code of ethics, professional competencies, and confidentiality agreements. Around noon, the whole child life department had lunch together to welcome me. I felt very fortunate to be around so many awesome people. At The Children’s Hospital the music therapist is a part of the child life department and is overseen by the child life coordinator. I’m excited to be a part of this department because I’m interested in Child Life and the similarities with MT (Future topic to coverJ).
The next six months are going to be a blast!
