Getting Paroled

It's the eve of my last day in prison and my emotions are mixed. I am happy that I will be "free" of the long Monday morning commute and being away from home all week, but I am also sad to leave the friends I've made (nurses, not inmates) and leave the patients without a doctor. Someone will come to fill my worn out Dansko clogs before too long I hope. And sooner or later, I know I will run into an inmate on the street or in my next office.

Overall, I feel really grateful to have been employed for the last 7 months and to have had this experience in prison. The correctional population has definitely experienced the health effects of poverty and being uninsured and I have enjoyed getting to take care of people who have no one else looking out for their medical needs (and often haven't been getting any primary care on the streets for years before they came to prison). I am constantly surprised and saddened by the number of women who attribute their long term health problems to physical abuse and drugs. I saw a 27 yr old today who had all of her teeth pulled and didn't qualify to get dentures in prison. I started talking to her about nutrition and eating fruits and vegetables, and she told me the kitchen doesn't given her any because she can't chew them. She broke my heart. It also seems like 90% of the women in prison are mothers, which I also find to be very disheartening. What choices and circumstances led the middle school school English teacher I saw today to end up in prison?

I had to laugh to myself yesterday when I walked through the prison yard and a diabetic inmate said to me "Bye, Doc!" and then, to her friends, "That's my doctor!" (Like there is any other doctor in our prison...) There have definitely been some satisfying moments, heart breaking stories, a few good laughs, and many patient tears, plus a few of my own. I leave with gratitude for my time in the slammer and excitement for my next adventure.

Hasta la vista, La Quinta!