I suppose that it's time to announce the next destination for the Pope-Jochim clan... So, get those pencil erasers ready to erase "Baltimore" and add... "Klamath Falls, Oregon!"
Randal and I will visit Klamath Falls next weekend with a classmate of mine, Stephanie Van Dyke, to check out this city that we plan to make our home for the next few years.
Stephanie, Randal and I have all worked on the divestment campaign and Stephanie and I have been in some classes together, continually finding that we work very well together. She is a physician who finished her residency in Klamath Falls last year and is originally from Portland, OR. She asked me a few months ago, over a beer or two, if I was interested in joining her in this venture that she wanted to undertake.
Randal and I discussed it, researched the town, talked about careers and goals and life plans... Eventually, we both decided that it would be an amazing opportunity for the two of us and we should take a risk and try it out.
Stephanie and I plan on starting a wellness clinic in this small, rural town, ripe with chronic disease. However, we want to tackle the chronic disease problem as well as greenhouse gas emissions in the town. While these problems seem to be unrelated, transportation and agriculture are main causes of both of them and have intertwining solutions. Get people out of their cars and on bikes. Decrease meat intake and eat more fruits and vegetables. Our goal is to see patients three days a week and focus on behavioral interventions, addressing obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. Two days a week, we hope to work with the town planners and start building bike lanes, gardens, etc, enabling people to actually make behavior changes in the way that they eat and move.
Obviously, you're thinking how difficult this will be. However, as we have presented these ideas to our professors, we become more streamlined in our project. Research shows that these interventions work. We're just combining two ideas into one in an innovative way.
I am so excited.
We are developing our pitch and will present to one of the doctors of the hospital in a month. He is already excited about our project without even hearing the pitch.
Randal is still searching for the career of his dreams, but, in the meantime, I hope that he will help us and be an invaluable consultant. The town has great geothermal energy potential and a small institute of technology. I think that Randal will be able to start projects and advise us on sustainable changes that we could make. I know that we couldn't do this without him.
So... to sum up my upcoming few months:
1. Graduate
2. Get married.
3. Start an innovative, world-changing clinic.
Here we go!
Randal and I will visit Klamath Falls next weekend with a classmate of mine, Stephanie Van Dyke, to check out this city that we plan to make our home for the next few years.
Stephanie, Randal and I have all worked on the divestment campaign and Stephanie and I have been in some classes together, continually finding that we work very well together. She is a physician who finished her residency in Klamath Falls last year and is originally from Portland, OR. She asked me a few months ago, over a beer or two, if I was interested in joining her in this venture that she wanted to undertake.
Randal and I discussed it, researched the town, talked about careers and goals and life plans... Eventually, we both decided that it would be an amazing opportunity for the two of us and we should take a risk and try it out.
Stephanie and I plan on starting a wellness clinic in this small, rural town, ripe with chronic disease. However, we want to tackle the chronic disease problem as well as greenhouse gas emissions in the town. While these problems seem to be unrelated, transportation and agriculture are main causes of both of them and have intertwining solutions. Get people out of their cars and on bikes. Decrease meat intake and eat more fruits and vegetables. Our goal is to see patients three days a week and focus on behavioral interventions, addressing obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. Two days a week, we hope to work with the town planners and start building bike lanes, gardens, etc, enabling people to actually make behavior changes in the way that they eat and move.
Obviously, you're thinking how difficult this will be. However, as we have presented these ideas to our professors, we become more streamlined in our project. Research shows that these interventions work. We're just combining two ideas into one in an innovative way.
I am so excited.
We are developing our pitch and will present to one of the doctors of the hospital in a month. He is already excited about our project without even hearing the pitch.
Randal is still searching for the career of his dreams, but, in the meantime, I hope that he will help us and be an invaluable consultant. The town has great geothermal energy potential and a small institute of technology. I think that Randal will be able to start projects and advise us on sustainable changes that we could make. I know that we couldn't do this without him.
So... to sum up my upcoming few months:
1. Graduate
2. Get married.
3. Start an innovative, world-changing clinic.
Here we go!
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