My Resume

I have decided to apply for a job as a CNA or HHA to work at while completing my schooling.  I made up a resume using a template on Office Word 2007.  Hmmmm....the formatting got kind of screwed up in the process of putting it on here, but you can basically see what it looks like anyhow.
I welcome any suggestions !!!!!!!!!!!

Allison Oja

5260 Mattson Rd
Finland MN 55603
tatonka_farm@yahoo.com

(218) 220-9451

OBJECTIVE

·         To find a position as a CNA or HHA that I can remain in throughout my nursing schooling.

Education:

CNA Training:

2/24/2011 – 4/4/2011 MN Veterans Home, Silver Bay MN

·         Completed class with overall grade of 97% (290/300).

·         Passed state exam at Lake Superior College on first attempt on 4/13/2011

·         Certified, on the state registry

Lake Superior College

Aug 23, 2011 - present

·         In the process of completing all my prerequisites for Nursing with a 4.0 GPA

·         Will have all my prerequisites completed by mid May, 2011.  Passed A&PI with an A on first attempt, have an A so far in A&P II.

Itasca Community College – accepted as a nursing student in the LPN program, with a fall of 2012 start date.

Itasca Community College – enrolled in HHA class 6/27/2011-6/29/2011

SKILLS

·         MS Word

·         Activities of Daily Living (ADL)

·         Quality Patient Care

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

I was a caretaker for my elderly father in the last year of his life.  This enables me to see residents and clients as people who are beloved members to their families.  I think that this gives me a strong desire to ensure clients are treated with respect and care.  It was this experience of caring for him that inspired me to pursue a career in nursing.

Although I will be starting Nursing school this fall, I will be available to work PT throughout my schooling.  My classes are mostly online, with approx 4 days of onground clinical and labs monthly.

My Personal Statement

Ok, so I had to make a personal statement for my English (Comp I) class.  So, here it is:

My Path to a Nursing Career

            I developed an interest in nursing while being a caregiver to my elderly father.  I have also always had a strong interest in biology and have the desire to help others.  Nursing will give me an opportunity to learn more about biology while giving me a challenging career helping the elderly.

            I enjoy learning about biology and look forward to continuing to study this fascinating life science.  An interesting topic to learn is the physiology of the human body and how our systems work together to maintain life.  The complexity of the human body is amazing and a nurse not only gets to study this in school, but constantly learns about the body systems while working with patients.  This is very appealing to me.

            While emotionally fulfilling, nursing is also a challenging and demanding career, which is something that appeals to me quite a lot.  I like to keep active, body and mind, and nursing fits this description.  A nurse needs to be able to respond quickly to a patient, and sometimes to make critical decisions rapidly and efficiently.  Nurses also need to respond promptly and think on their feet when responding to emergency situations, especially in a nursing home, where there are no doctors on staff. 

            Most of all, I look forward to a career of helping the elderly obtain the highest quality of life they are able to.  Modern times have changed the way elderly live and how they are treated in residential facilities.  A modern facility looks at the overall health of the patient, while keeping the residents active and stimulated.  I like the way the focus is on keeping the residents as vigorous and as independent as possible.  As a nurse, part of my job would be to evaluate the residents and make sure they are doing everything they are capable of doing.  I look forward to being a part of the positive changes in the geriatric care field.

            I am looking forward to a career in Nursing.  My love of biology will help me to stay up to date on the latest studies of the function of the body systems.  The challenges and demands of the job are something I know I will enjoy, and I look forward to years of helping residents maintain a high quality of life.  My path to nursing is leading me to my career caring for the elderly.

           

Two more poems

The first is one I just kinda threw together this morning:

Crystals glint in sun
Diamonds hang in branches near
Oh!  It's winter's gems!

The second I did while snowshoeing

brittle leaves rattle
the bells of painted warrior
dancing round a fire

Haiku trio

Last night, my snowshoe walk in the falling snow in the dark inspired poetry in me !!

diamonds glitter bright
float and so softly blanket
cold but somehow warm

woods oh so silent
yet talk to me this night time
tracks! broke limbs! lone pine!

porch light beckons me
come sit by fireplace with tea
snow shoes off, come in

I know the third stanza in the trio really breaks from traditional, but since I am not Japanese, I figure I can get away with it.
I love Haiku so much !!!

Was looking for exercise....found a complete passion.....

Yesterday, the thermometer read 8 below zero.  I think the wind chill was somewhere around 20 below.  Dressing to go out and do chores and then snow shoe takes a little bit of thought and care.  Long johns and wind pants on bottom, two shirts and a thermal lined hoodie on top.  Thermal socks, wool mad bomber hat, insulated gloves, polar fleece face/neck warmer complete the wardrobe.
The goal is to limit surface exposed to the air, but not to dress so warmly that you get uncomfortable once you start working up a good sweat.  That is why there was no winter coat.
Did chores, then put the dogs in the warm house and headed out on the trail.  The first section of trail passes through a horse pasture where there is no wind break.  The brisk winds were blowing up little snow devils throughout the field.  This section is only about 300-400ft long, with beautiful scenery, but seems longer with the bitter cold wind. 
Once I enter the woods, there is a huge difference in the feel of the air.  The thick spruce and birch to the north of me and the maple forest to the south give me a feeling of warmth and protection. 
I meander through the spruce trees and into the maple forest.  I love this section of trail.  In the summer, I decorate it with gnomes, fairies, tree faces and other assorted critters much to the delight of my grandkids.  In the winter, there are a few tree faces to be seen, but the scenery is the dark brown of the maple bark against the stark white snow. 

I circle the maples, eventually coming back to the spruce section of trail.  All along the way, chickadees talk to me, lighting on low branches and singing "chick-a-dee-dee-dee" at me.   Rabbit tracks, deer tracks, fox tracks and occasionally, wolf tracks are abundant in the woods - I love looking at the tracks and figuring out what came by, which direction they were going and what kind of path they took - foxes like to zig-zag around - I imagine they are sniffing branches and such.   Deer mostly go straight from point A to point B, while bunnies seem to zig around aimlessly.
By the time I have come back to the spruce trail, I am thoroughly warm from the inside out.  I have pushed the now wet face warmer down off of my face, and am feeling overdressed as I sweat along.
When I hit the pasture again, the cold wind and the snow devils now feel good.  I have did about 1/2 an hour of intense exercise, but it didn't feel like exercise.   Not too bad for an overweight grandma. The soul-renewing outting is the highlight of my day every day.  I started out just looking for a way to get outside and get some exercise and discovered an absolute passion.  I imagine I will be snow shoeing the rest of my life.
Any of you who are interested in snow shoeing, I urge you to try it.  You don't have to have your own trail to do it or even live in the country.  If you live in an area with snow in the winter, try a state park, or hiking trail.  It is easier for beginners, out of shape folks and older people to go on an already packed trail.  I use the snowmobile to pack my trail down every time it snows.  It is much easier on my knees that way, but still plenty of exercise !!

2011 Resolutions !!

So, I decided to put my New Years resolutions up here, for the world to see !!  Maybe they will be harder to break if I make them public !!

1) Eat more natural foods, less processed
2) Keep up doing 30min hard cardio a day and strength training 3 days a week
3) Start reading One Year Bible
4) Finish setting up my rental cabins
5) Increase my volunteer hours every month

Now, at first glance, res. no. 1 doesn't seem that hard.  I already eat alot of natural foods and not a whole lot of processed.  But, being on Weight Watchers and tracking what I eat has shown me I can do better !!  I started this off by a little grocery shopping - I bought all my produce and I also made a trip to a quaint little store not far from here that buys Amish whole foods in bulk.  I was able to get some 7 grain cereal, wildflower honey, fresh ground peanut butter (with no added oils or sugar) and some fresh ground cinnamon.  Step two is to take part of a day off every week and prepare some food so it is easier to fix a good, healthy meal on days when I am bogged down with work, school, farm chores, etc.  Today, I am making some brown rice, whole wheat pasta, roasted veggies, roasted chicken breast (had it cooking in the crock pot all night) and cereal to portion and freeze.  YAY !!  Now, when you see me 2 months from now, ask how it is going - keep me on track !!
Res. no. 2 will be hard to keep when school classes start back up.  I have been snow shoeing 30min a day, every day.  This means strapping on a head lamp and tromping through the woods at night some times.  It rained here one day (awful for Dec in Minn), I didn't get home till dark and it would have been the perfect excuse NOT to go, but I did go that night and it was gorgeous - the headlamp cut a nice glow through the fog and rain.  Once the snow is gone, I will again return to riding bike.  Resistance training consists of a full body workout on the Body by Jake.  Remind me to stick to my routines !!
Res no 3 will be kind of fun - I bought the One Year Bible book last year, but since the days are marked in it figured it would be easier to do starting the first.  Cory is going to read, too - so we start tonight !!
Res no 4 is an important one.  I have two cabins here - a 16X16 one room and a 16X24 one bedroom.  Both are fully finished by need a few touches here and there.  The bigger one has to be set up (it sits on cribbing in my pasture for now).  Renting them out will enable me to cut back on work hours next year when my nursing classes start and I will no longer be able to work as much.
And last but not least, in the last few years, volunteering my time has gotten pushed aside.  I will once again put my time into Relay for Life and also continue volunteering with the elderly - I started that for a service project in my Psychology class and really enjoyed it.  I am thinking I will let the organisation (North Shore Area Partners) know that I would love to spend my hours helping the elderly people keep their pets - I can help care for them, take them in if they have to be hospitalised.  I am thinking it might enable a pet loving elderly person to keep their beloved dog or cat that the family can't help them care for and they are no longer able to.

Alright peeps - keep me in line !

Lyme Disease in dogs

Here is something I wrote two years ago this coming November.  We didn't have Truman very long (we had just adopted him that summer), but the impact of such a young, healthy, vigerous dog dying way before his time was huge on us.  I still get tears thinking about that week two years ago:
Today, our dog Truman went for one last outing with the four wheeler. Only instead of running alongside of the wheeler with his happy Golden Retriever grin on his face, bursting with the energetic enthusiasm of a healthy 2 yr old dog, like he has every day of his short time of living with us since we adopted him - this time, his lifeless body was riding on the back of the wheeler, wrapped in his blanket which he was to be buried in.
Only a short week ago, he was full of life, energy and happiness. It’s still hard for us to think that this has really happened.
A tiny, tiny little deer tick that infected him with Lyme disease is probably what caused the kidney failure in this healthy young dog. He faded so quickly and on his last day, he lay quietly on the blanketed bed at the Vet clinic while we tried to be strong for him in his last moments. His tail wagged right up until the end.
Here is what I learned in the last couple of weeks and what I would like to pass on in hopes it will save a life:
My Vet Clinic is treating many dogs a week for Lyme Disease.
The tiny little deer tick is a threat even this late in the year - you need to use tick protection on your dog right up until there is a blanket of snow on the ground.
Frontline is the only repellent recommended by my Vet. They have not had a single case of Lyme in dogs protected by Frontline. There are tons of other brands out there. Some are quite inexpensive. How much are you really saving, though, when you have to treat a dog for Lyme or worse yet, bury your beloved pet because you didn’t buy Frontline??? Absolutely nothing !!!
Please learn from my mistake and use Frontline on your dog. There are still a few weeks of deer tick season left !!