Hello, My Name is Nad...

Well, geez, I'm sorry I am such a poor blogger, not like my gorgeous wife. I mean my blogs are probably boring to most but let me start fresh, my name is Dan and recently I moved from a place called Paradise, Nevada to a another place called...well, it's none of your business where I currently reside with my wife, two dogs, and cat.



Today is a good day to acknowledge all of my blessings. It's no secret that I am disappointed with the direction of the US economy at this time and last week I was reminded why. MSNBC reported that "The nation's unemployment rate soared to 5.5 percent in May, up from 5 percent it April. That represented the biggest one-month jump in 22 years and served as a stark reminder of the pressures the labor market is facing from the weak economy." However, in that month of devastating loss of employment I actually found a job, a good one, and I'm darn glad to have it.

With 3 weeks left in my final semester at UNLV's College of Social Work we moved to our new home in Texas. I quickly found a job as an LMSW (Licensed Master Social Worker) at a place called Odyssey Healthcare. The anit-capitalist, idealist in me was a little wary of working at a for profit-company, I mean I really don't want to help the rich get richer, they can do that on their own, but these are good people that are providing an important service and they are not in it for the money, at least in my office, I can't really speak for other offices.



You see, Odyssey is a hospice agency. Do you know what a hospice agency does? We help people transition from this life to the next. Sounds morbid, doesn't it? We have just under 200 patients, all of which are terminally ill, most of them have cancer but we see COPD, HIV, and various heart diseases. My first weekend we had 10 patients in our inpatient unit on Friday, by Monday 8 had been discharged if you know what I mean. It is weird to be around so much death, but it is very sobering as I am able to regularly contemplate my own mortality.

Really though, I love the job and I love working in hospice. I have experienced so much in such a short amount of time. I enjoy working with the nurses, chaplains, social workers, physicians, and other personnel. Currently I manage the volunteer services department...well, I am the only one in the department so technically I manage myself, but it still sounds cool. Kidding, I manage the wonderful, outstanding, loving volunteers which really is a great job.

So that is what I am doing. I spend my days talking to volunteers, processing paperwork, doing orientation, meeting with patients, working with various facilities, coming up with new and creative ways to do volunteer work, oh, and who could forget all of the super meetings I get to attend 4 times a week for more than 2 hours. Well, all but the last one is really cool, I mean I help people help other people for not other reason than out of the kindness of their hearts...you just can't beat that.

At least that is part of my life at this time. Stay tuned for the expose on why everyone should be doing volunteer work, my other job, and why I am currently enrolled at Lubbock Christian University.