Site Visits and Interviewing for Residencies

Happy New Year! I hope everyone enjoyed spending time with their friends and family! This month has been quite busy for me, and I wanted to share with you the experiences I had completing site visits and interviewing for residencies out of state. During my travels to Las Vegas in early December to attend the ASHP Midyear Meeting, I met with several officers in the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps to discuss residencies opportunities in the Indian Health Service (IHS). The Corps is an unarmed, uniformed service that includes an interdisciplinary team of health care professionals that respond to and support National medical needs posed by epidemics, as well as natural and manmade disasters. Corps officers are also involved in disease control and prevention, biomedical research, and the regulation of food and drugs. At the Meeting, I spoke with residency directors from six IHS sites and inquired about completing site visits in the two weeks following the conference. After conversing over email, I managed to schedule all six visits one week after returning from Las Vegas. Shortly before Christmas and within 48 hours of booking my flights, rental cars and hotel stays, I departed on my week-long excursion to visit and interview at six IHS sites in four states, within five days. Little did I know what I was in for!

To give you a taste of my travel arrangements, sit back and enjoy reading about my itinerary! I departed from Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport on Wednesday evening, December 12, and arrived in Phoenix six hours later after a layover in Denver. I then rented a car and stayed overnight at a hotel in Scottsdale. Thursday morning, December 13, I traveled to Phoenix Indian Medical Center for a site visit. The next morning, December 14, I drove four hours through three snow storms in the White Mountains to Whiteriver, AZ for an interview and site visit that afternoon at Whiteriver IHS Hospital. Following the visit, I drove five hours to Farmington, NM where I stayed at a hotel for the weekend. On Monday morning, December 17, I interviewed and visited the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, NM. I then drove two hours south to Gallup Indian Medical Center for an interview and site visit that afternoon. I left Gallup, NM early that evening and traveled two hours east to Albuquerque and stayed at a hotel for the night. On Tuesday morning, December 18, I flew from Albuquerque to Tulsa, OK, managing to arrive six hours later after a two hour layover and delay in Dallas. The pharmacy resident from Claremore Indian Hospital graciously agreed to transport me to and from the airport for my site visit and interview at the Hospital. That evening I departed from Tulsa and flew five hours to Portland, OR with a layover in Salt Lake City, UT. After arriving in Portland, I rented a car and drove 2.5 hours east through the Cascade Mountain Range to Madras, OR where I stayed in a hotel for the night. That was by far the longest day with traveling through five states and three time zones, while being up for 22 hours! The following morning, December 19, I drove to Warm Springs, OR for a site visit and interview at Warm Springs Health and Wellness Center. After the visit, I drove two hours back to Portland over the mountain range through a blizzard at an elevation of 4,000 feet to catch a 6.5 hour flight to Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport with a layover in Phoenix. Whew! Way too much traveling in such short amount of time, but WELL worth it!

This was truly an eye-opening experience and I learned a lot about opportunities for pharmacists to serve in the IHS and as a Corps officer. I met several well-renowned officers and pharmacists, and strengthened my passion for Public Health System pharmacy. As a pharmacy resident in the IHS and USPHS Commissioned Corps officer, I will protect, promote, and advance the health and safety of our Nation. I aspire to improve patient health outcomes and access to care, advance the profession, and improve global health through transformative thinking to catalyze change. I am greatly anticipating the Match results in February!