Local tragedy

Meadowbrook Apartment Fire - Northampton, MA
Originally uploaded by Cronin Hill Photography

Recently, an apartment building nearby caught fire and displaced more than 20 people. They have lost everything. People all over the area are mobilizing and donating, and our church has also set up a special monetary collection for the families affected by this fire. Our church has a strong local presence, for which I am very grateful.

Today I am going through my closet to find clothing that I can pass on to the families of the Meadowbrook Apartments. Maybe I can convince Jen to do the same thing tonight. Every little bit helps.

In the summer of 2001, I lived in an apartment complex similar to this in Ohio and a fire started when lightning struck my building. We thankfully weren't harmed by the fire and our things were left in tact, but we did have some water damage and had to relocate to another unit. It was terrifying and scary, even knowing we had all of our things to come home to. It was just one of many eye-opening and difficult experiences I had in 2001.

I can imagine the panic felt by the residents as they saw their building engulfed in flames, watching the fire trucks roll in and just waiting, waiting, waiting to see how far it would spread.

A whole new world

It's going to take some getting used to when it comes to working for a large organization, and more than that, a major hospital. I spent half a day today doing pre-employment business for my new job. I had to report to Employee Health Services. I am used to working for small non-profits. Employee Health Services?

First I had to fill out a medical history and then I needed a pre-employment physical exam, which involved me actually wearing a hospital gown and not clothes. I had to take a vision test and drop urine for a drug screen. I had to provide record of my immunizations. (Thankfully I found my baby shot record book and my proof of MMR immunity from working in EI.) I was given a lab slip to go and get blood drawn for a varicella titre at another building. And I was strongly encouraged to get a TDaP shot which was provided free of charge. (I did. I was overdue for Tetanus anyway.) After all of that, I went to yet another location to fill out tax forms. PHEW!

The whole thing took about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I can't believe I had to strip to get a job!!