New Year New Job

Happy 2008! Celebrating a new year wasn't enough this year so I am celebrating a new career as well. I have been attending hospital orientations in various forms since I was 14 where I was wearing a red and white striped jumper (yes the standard candy outfit). Off the top of my head I have attended at least five hospital orientations. and have sat through at least five that I can recall. Today's was no different. Wear gloves, recycle, shred patient information, however there were some interesting tidbits that I learned:

• The closest hazardous material landfill is North Carolina.
• The chemotherapeutic/radioactive landfill is located in Ohio. (I guess these state residents lost the Not In My Backyard fight.)
• The hospital creates 6 tons of trash daily.

Boy am I glad that we recycle over 30% of the trash. I moved from a town that was renown for its recycling and a hospital that barely recycled, to an apartment complex that doesn't recycle and the hospital is leading the nation with its reuse/recycle/reduce efforts. As my friend Paul would say, "Interesting." After so many hospital orientations I must admit that this is the first one that had an entire 30 minutes donated to discussing trash.

Another interesting fact....in the code of conduct we are instructed to not call patients by their first names unless invited to do so. This is the way I grew up and thought it was just a regional custom however here it is in the hospital manual. I would like to believe that this won't be a problem for me as this is the way that I was raised (Some neighbors that I have known for 25 years are still Mr and Mrs. despite my trying to use their first names but it is too weird). However, I must admit although I kept my northern accent mostly intact, I did slip into the "Hey honey/darling" habit. "Hay is for horses" so the sing songy He-ay stretched over two syllables I used to greet coworkers with (after 0800) needs to come to an end. I will be working with a former UNC coworker here in NH so she will be able to support me through these regional differences.

I had agonized about my orientation outfit. The overriding question... Will I be cold? (which is always a driving concern of mine no matter where I live...hence the number of turtle necks and pairs of long underwear in my closet :) Is there too much snow to dress up (a fresh five inches was on the ground this morning)? Should I dress up as I will be sitting most of the day and cute shoes are better for sitting than standing? I should not have worried so much as to what I was wearing as some of the department chairs that spoke to newbies today were wearing jeans, fleece vests and the majority were wearing boots! The dress code is nice and relaxed here in NH and seeing as though the closest Ann Taylor is 76 miles and the closest Loft is a state away it is nice to know that I shouldn't have worried. (I did wear a cowl neck sweater and was quite warm sitting in class all day! Ahhh.)