January 20th - Jean

My new position at High Point University brings me into contact with the health professions programs almost daily.  Most of the professors in those departments are newer to the university, and it's been exciting to see them adapt to the culture here and our mission.

One of the professors that I've met but really haven't talked to before is Jean, who works in the School of Pharmacy.  She's a bubbly, excited, passionate professional that believes we have the makings of a truly extraordinary program.  Yesterday, I got a chance to sit down with her.



Jean

Jean's only worked at HPU for four months, but says that she's "already drank the lemonade."  She's the Director of Standard Clients program, which basically means she oversees the patient actors that the students come into contact with. I'm instantly reminded of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer's portrayal of jaundice is something to behold (yes, much of my life is viewed through the Seinfeld filter).  "That's exactly what it is," Jean says, "I actually just hired four people to come in and act like they want to quit smoking.  They get a script and the students interview them, and then select an over the counter product to help them quit.  They counsel the actor as to what they should take. It will be recorded so students can see later on how they did."

Jean: The students are really nervous about this! But this is what they will be doing out in the field, they'll be working with patients and this experience helps them gain confidence and helps them be more comfortable.  It helps with their interpersonal skills and makes them feel like they are in a better place to give advice.


Jean has been in the field of Pharmacy for 40 years ("I'm older than dirt," she says).  She's the oldest in the department, and has a lot of ideas for how we can move forward and position ourselves as one of the finest programs around.

Jean: I love my job, I tell people I love it all the time.  I actually saw my primary care physician a few months after I started here, and he asked me how I was liking things here.  When I told him that I loved it he closed his laptop and said "I have not heard anyone say that they love their job in over five years, tell me about it."



What's the meal that reminds you most of home?

Jean: Chicken pastry and candied yams.

Lars: Chicken pastry...is that like chicken pie (a feature in a lot of the Moravian churches around here).

Jean: No, not at all, it's this old-timey dish. It's basically wontons that you roll out and cook with chicken (almost like chicken and dumplings, only the wontons are thinner).



What's the most significant historical event that you have witnessed in your life?

Jean: I was in seventh grade and I remember watching the coverage of JFK's assassination.  I remember the seat I was sitting in and the room it was in.  The school is still there and I could take you right to that spot.  That was really crushing to me, because I actually met him.  I was selected from my school to go to a rally of his in Raleigh, and I got to shake his hand.  I liked him a lot, his Camelot and his rocking chair made right here in North Carolina.


I told Jean why I was doing this kind of project, and she said that she thought it was a great idea. "I think social media is going to be our downfall," she said, "because when you blast stuff out over Twitter or Facebook, you don't see the direct impact of what you're saying.

Lars: Exactly.  There's always been bullying, but I feel like when a bully did it to your face they could see when they crossed a line.

Jean: And when it's done so anonymously over social media, you don't see where that line is.



We started talking about our families and our children.  Jean has one son, Matthew.  "He shortened it to 'Matt' when he was little because he didn't want to write all of it out," she said.

Jean: He was a pill.  So creative and impulsive and all over the place.  I took him to New Garden Friend's School, and I thought he was a terror there and I didn't know how much he got out of it until later when he went to Grimsley, big 'ole Grimsley (it's one of the bigger high schools here in Greensboro and it's where Elliot is currently districted to attend).

During the first PTA meeting, all of these teachers come up to us and they know who we are and who Matt is.  I start thinking, oh no, why do they know Matt?

What had happened was that I had signed him up for a keyboarding class.  And there was a student with disabilities in the class, just under-privileged and he would get picked on by bullies.  And apparently, three of these bullies grabbed the kid's notebook and threw it out the third floor window.

Matt, by this time, had gotten big and had joined the football team as a freshman.  And he says "Go get it, now."  And the bullies get up in his face, and the teacher doesn't know what to do and thinks someone's going to pull a knife.

"You don't do that," Matt says, "you're wrong.  Go get it."  They still won't budge, so Matt borrows a classmate's cell phone and calls the head football coach and the assistant football coach.

"They are coming over from the gym with some other guys on the team," Matt says, "and you have until they get here from gym to go get that notebook."  And so they did.

The teacher immediately told the other teachers the next day in the lounge what had happened, and how Matt had stood up for that kid who just needed help.  After that, Matt was really well respected.  And I count the time he spent at New Garden Friend's School as what showed him that you needed to stand up for others.



You could obviously feel the love and pride that Jean had when she was telling that story.  She's got a very motherly quality about her, and her positive attitude has spilled out during interview days and is hard to ignore.  I'm excited to continue to work with her and to see how her ideas can help add to our program.

And I'm hopeful to be able to tell the same kind of stories about Elliot when he grows up.