Trust Women

Yesterday, I went to the regional conference for Medical Students for Choice in San Francisco.  It was such an inspiring, informative day!

Here are some lingering thoughts I have/things that really stuck out to me:

• Only 4% of women of reproductive age in the US are using long acting reversible contraception (IUD, implant, etc) vs. 20% in Europe.   I wonder why?!  I also think its very interesting that even though the IUD has been found to be safe to use in women who have not yet had children, it is still mainly marketed towards married women who have already had children.  I feel like these long acting reversible contraception methods are an untapped resource.  FYI: the Mirena IUD is more effective at preventing pregnancy than tubal ligation!
• There is much debate over whether contraceptives should be covered in health care reform as a preventative service.  I just don't get why this is even a question?!  Obviously, if you prevent pregnancies with contraception, you will reduce the number of unintended pregnancies... which translates to less abortions and live births, BOTH of which are much more expensive than contraceptives.  For every $1 you spend on contraceptives, you save $9 that would be spent later on.  Regardless of whether you believe women (and men) should have the right to chose when they are ready to become parents, not offering contraceptives as a preventative service is fiscally irresponsible.  
• I also learned a lot about Catholic Health Association, and what kind of ethical guidelines they use in treating patients in Catholic hospitals.  I'm not even going to write any details about this, but let's just say you won't ever find me working in a Catholic hospital.  And if I was pregnant, I would not go to a Catholic hospital because it could cost me my life.
• I love the "Trust Women" silver ribbon campaign.  "The silver ribbon represents science over ideology.  Those who proudly wear it support reproductive rights, free access to birth control, and keeping abortion legal and accessible."  I wear my ribbon proudly on my badge because I trust women.

Happy Birthday, Gloria Steinem!

Gloria Steinem turns 77 today.  What a cool lady (click her name for more details).  She is also one of the cofounders of my favorite magazine (Ms.)

I love what she is saying in this clip, and I promise to do an "outrageous act" this weekend!  (Does dedicating my Saturday to attending a Medical Students for Choice conference count?) 

I've got the black lung, pop.

I spent the second half of my spring break in LA visiting friends and bf, where my wonderful souvenir from Vegas first appeared (a nasty cough).  So now I am studying for my Immuno final and hacking up a lung.  How appropriate?

Anyway, the trip to LA was fun!  J and I had a lovely time singing and car-dancing while I DJed for the drive.  Got to see lots of my Gphi friends once in LA, and even got to visit the Gphi house for a bit!  The girls and I went out to some Irish bar for St. Patty's and got Bella Pita after, just like old times.  And of course, NO trip to LA is complete without a Panera meal with the ladies.  J and I encountered some pouring rain in LA and some snow on the grapevine on the drive back, but we made it through!  Here are some pics:

Mongols!

Gotta love Mongol King

Botanical Garden at UCLA

We got stalked by some squirrels...

Veggie Grill! Just as good as Native Foods!

Snowy Grapevine

California Open Road

This is what we do with our "free time" in med school...

This last Friday was Mirth Control - a school wide roast of everything med school/medicine related.  Each class puts on a skit/video and they are judged by a few faculty (the 4th years always win).  I am one of the directors of the class of 2014's production, and while it took up a lot of my time the last few weeks, it was so worth it!  We lot a lot of our classmates in the video and the final product turned out really funny (I think), and at least we really impressed the rest of the school even though we didn't win.  I wasn't able to be at the actual event since I was already enjoying my Vegas Vacation, so I missed out on the other class' skits.  Anyway, here it is! I hope you like the song I wrote/sang (Anatomy Sabotage Song) hehe... Enjoy:

*the premise behind our video is that since med students are always hanging around the Medical Education building ("MedEd") at all hours of the day, it becomes a sort of "club"/social scene.  This is our take on that.

VEGAS BABY!

Spring Break 2011 Part 1

My med school friends and I went to Las Vegas for our first weekend of spring break, and WOW we had a great time!  

On the airplane, excited to get the trip started!

Sparkling wine sampler at the airport

Our suite in the Venetian. Man, I love that place!

Feeling super stuffed after the Le Village Buffet at the Paris resort

PILLOW FIGHT

A few of us went to this extremely bougie buffet, Jasmine at the Bellagio.  Let's just say WOW, I have never experienced such a fancy meal.  Here are a few pics, but they really don't do it justice.  The food was like stuff you see on the food channel that you think to yourself "oh wow, that is fancy and I will probably never have it".  There was a whole ROOM dedicated to dessert!  It was extremely expensive, but very much worth it.

We met up with some of our other classmates... we just can't get enough of eachother! hehe

Jockey Club where our friends were staying

Highlights of the trip: "VEGAS BABY!", yummy food, good company.  

Fails: not ever getting to go to Fat Tuesdays (next time!), winning $20 playing roulette (which I LOVE btw), but then losing my $25 chip so losing $5 overall.  

This was my first time in vegas having guys in our group, and it was definitely a change having to pay for everything (haha) but we had a great time nonetheless.  It really was a great trip! 

I am now taking a day of rest back in Sac, and tomorrow I am headed to LA for part 2 of my spring break!

Gettin' Lucky For Spring Break!

Right before spring break, I helped organize a fundraiser for a student group I am in at school - MSFC (Medical Students For Choice).  The MSFC regional meeting is coming up in San Francisco in a few weeks, so we did a fun little Shamrock Gram sale to raise money to help pay for gas.  We sold glittery, homemade shamrock cards with green, mint flavored condoms and peppermint patties attached (just in time for spring break and St. Patty's Day).

        

We took orders and had people write messages on their Shamrock Condom Grams that they bought for their friends, and then we delivered them to people's lockers one morning before class!  The locker room looked really cool with all the Shamrocks/condoms hanging.  Our fundraiser did pretty well, but most of all, it was just plain fun! 

***I totally forgot to put these last few pictures in this post when I originally posted it.  This is MSFC getting crafty in preparation for the fundraiser:

Zoey being nosy