in retrospect

My summer at Wendover has ended and I am back in my home state of MA. This morning when I woke up I had the greatest impulse to throw on khaki and white, only to realize that a uniform is not required for this part of my summer. The lack of khaki and white left me standing awkwardly in front of my bureau, completely unable to dress myself.

This basic confusion may have subsided quickly, but it creates a nice metaphor for my departure from Wendover. I had such a schedule, such a daily goal, that without the structure of Frontier Nursing Service and the courier program, I find myself aimless.

I never could have imagined I would learn all that I did this summer. Of course, based on the literature regarding the service and the program, I knew I would be shadowing some health providers and doing some community service, and thus learning about healthcare and community building. But I had no idea of the magnitude of the learning, and the wide array of information I would accumulate through daily interactions, various chores, and specific circumstances.

I ended up seeing four births: three vaginal and one c-section, and each one was wildly different than the others. I was able to witness the different methods and tendencies of each midwife, as well as the varying birth plan of each mother. Obviously the c-section had very few similatrities to the other births, but even amongst the three vaginal births there were great discrepancies in the midwifery, the duration, the epidural, etc. I knew each birth would be its own, distinct moment of glory, but I didn't really know what that meant. Nor did I have any idea that I would begin to understand the delivery room lingo and jargon.

The experiences I had each day in town or in the clinics alone were enough to fill a whole summer. But the learning didn't stop there at all; the staff of FNS at Wendover provided me with a family of distinct and exceptional members. I will forever remember the converstations in the Garden House while signing out the service car, or the conversations in the kitchen over the steam from the massive dishwasher. I learned about poke sallet, about family function and dysfunction, about fondant cakes, and probably more about snakes than I'll ever (hopefully) need to know. Each person at Wendover brought to the table personality, stories and friendship. Living at Wendover was like being in a perpetual hug.

When I signed on to spend a summer in Southeastern Kentucky, I knew there would be a few other couriers there with me. And I knew, just because of the instinctual tendencies of young women, that we would beomce friendly and chatty. But I had no idea that my relationships with the other couriers would be as enjoyable as they were.

Everything I learned this summer seemed to come full circle -- things I learned from one area of my couriership frequently tied into something I was learning in another area, and lended to a greater understanding. With one birth, the midwife asked me to assit her by propping the mother's leg up and helping her through her contractions and periods of pushing. While I would have done this in the beginning of the summer, I felt much more well-equiped to do so after the Doula Training that we went through. Similarly, I began to see the same people around town or in different clinics, and it felt like we were succeeding at delivering well-rounded care and aid to the residents of Leslie County.

Not only could I take acquired knowledge from one task and apply it to another, but I started to be able to apply this acquired knowledge to my own life. On a smaller scale, I learned how to make butter at the Library camp, only to make some more at Wendover, and other such things. But on a greater scale, I learned from the people of Hyden and Leslie County. I learned the meaning of certain social graces, I learned the importance of kind interactions, I learned tolerance, I learned acceptance and I learned what 'southern comfort' really means.

-frances