Epic day, epic adventure, epic team. Pole reached at 2:45 am central time. Updates coming... ...continued...

We made it. Hardest thing I have ever done in my life by a long shot. The four of us were reached the Pole in record time for a two degree dog sled team. Overall about 200 miles (lots of east and west). We pushed hard at the end and went 48 hours with an hour sleep. Our guides deserve the glory. Rock stars of human beings. Mark and I spent a lot of time talking about things on the trail. There are hundreds of hours of time to reflect. I hope this post is not too sappy but its from the heart. Both Mark and I talked about this alot. We both agree. As we stood at the North Pole and thoug ...continued...

At Last, A Girl Chicago, 1964 Priscilla H Wilson It is 1962 and Rodney and I are watching the news. We have two sons but yearn for a daughter. I long for another female in our family. The news highlights Chinese refugees streaming into Hong Kong. We suddenly express the same thought, “Why not adopt a little girl who has no family?” As I turn the news off, I stammer, “I hadn’t thought about adoption before. I think that is the only way we can have a daughter.” Rodney laughs. “Let’s find out what we need to do.” The State of Ill ...continued...

One summer afternoon when i was about (10) years old, I sat on the bank of the farm pond, daydreaming and listening to a red winged blackbird sing. While Dad fixed the door of the corncrib the wind had torn off, Sunny, our Australian Shepard, plunged into the water in front of me. Barking and biting at the sparkling droplets that splashed in front of his face, he swam toward a flock of Canada geese, herding them along as they honked and flapped their wings. About twenty feet from the bank, the geese seemed to realize they had Sunny outnumbered. They did an about-face, honking loudly with th ...continued...

To what extent do my beliefs, prejudices or biases influence my thinking in terms of providing service in my profession or work? Include examples and reference areas for growth from the Provider's Guide to Quality and Culture quiz My beliefs influence my thinking when I provide service the most. I believe Prejudices and biases may impact who I think while providing services as well, although I try to learn about each person. My beliefs influence my thinking when I am working in several different ways. I believe in always being honest and trying my best. I believe you should tr ...continued...

Discussion One Due: 2/5/17 1. Hello everyone! I am Ellen Morrell. I am from the suburbs of Chicago originally. This is my first semester at UWM and I am very excited for this class. I graduated from Colorado State University in 2011 with a degree in Merchandising. I am interested in becoming a recreational therapist so I thought this program would be great to help me with my career goals. I wish I had known about recreational therapy when I was 18! I was originally interested in occupational therapy, unfortunately I did not get in my first round of applying. Although I will most likely reap ...continued...

My mother said I was a wampus cat. What a wampus cat is exactly, I can't tell you, and I doubt if Mom could either, but there you have it. A wampus cat. It brings to mind some sort of wild animal, like a bobcat or panther maybe. A wild animal isn't me, though, but wampus sounds kind like whopper, and to my ears it also brings to mind big. Maybe that early conditioning is why I still fight the battle of the bulge today. After all, if I'm a wampus cat, I must be big. Nothing like starting on the old self concept a little young. Bu ...continued...

Updates have been a tad delayed recently due to some crazy schedules experienced once we reached the pole. To be honest, the pole was literally just another point in the snow just like all the millions of other points we passed by the last few weeks. Due to the drifting ice and natural wobble of the earth, the point is very fleeting on any GPS, you have to chase the drift and wobble to remain on it. But for a moment, we were able to walk around the planet and experience every time zone. In a matter of moments I was in the past, present and future, the quickest pe ...continued...

Our 42 hour confinement to our tents was ended today as the storm eased up enough for us to continue north. Our drift over the storm took us further west than we wanted to the 129th Longitude. We ran into many open leads and had to wait until the ice moved back together allowing us to cross. It was incredible to witness and very scary to cross. We gained about 5 miles north today but our progress was halted by thin ice. We made camp and will wait till morning to try and cross. Needless to say that in the north polar icecap there is very little to smell. No plants and so few animals a person ...continued...

Last night after we made the blog post we had CP and Maher to our tent for some freeze dried dinner. It is quiet here at night when the dogs are sleeping. Suddenly we hear a massive noise. It sounded to me like a building being demolished. Mark says with an alarmed voice that he thinks he hears water rushing. We agree. The guides move fast and head outside the tent. Mark and I sit awaiting news. We suspect at the time that a massive lead opened up. The guides returned to report that they could not see anything but it was definitely the ice moving. We finish dinner and go to bed. We woke ...continued...

Well you guys already know who i am but anyways, i'm gonna talk about me for awhile. This last summer before school, I had surgery on my chest because I was born with a dent in my chest. The doctors kept on telling me that there was nothing wrong with me but my mom and I kept going to the doctors. We finally told them that we would like to see a specialist. So we did see one and he said that my dent is severe. Severe would mean My chest was pushing my heart and lungs to eachother and thats why my chest was always hurting. He also said I should do the surgery, at first i d ...continued...

The first principal standard of the CLAS standards states one will provide effective and respectful care that is quality. Diverse cultural health beliefs and the language necessary will be used for communication needs. Standards for cultural competence for occupational therapist are very similar. I found principal standard that speaks to effective communication skills, listening carefully and language –oriented with recruiting translators. These two statements are similar to me, because they are providing a statement that says they will offer quali ...continued...

Kissee Mills, MO. 1979 This is a story I tell over and over to my kids and grandkids. It's the story of a young man we met while camping in Missouri a long time ago. Kissee Mills is in Taney County and part of the Branson community. It was summer and we were looking for a new camp site. We stopped at a fork in the road that had a little shack that sold bait. A young boy probably about 12 or so asked us if we wanted a busy camp or a not busy camp. We said we wanted the not busy camp. He said to go down the road to the left. So we did. We set up camp and were sitting around the concret ...continued...

Primary Care for Underserved Populations: Navigating Policy to Incorporate Occupational Therapy Into Federally Qualified Health Centers. Murphy, A. et al. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, Vol. 71, Jan 2017. http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2599871 This article provided information about how people belonging to underserved populations, including minority groups and low-income people, have limited access to much needed occupational therapy services. Using a case example of a federally qualified health center serving American Indian/Alaska Native popul ...continued...

To get these posts out every night is quite an ordeal. The cold saps battery power so quickly you can watch the meter tick away. Every piece of electronics needs to be warmed against the body to restore power, then used quickly. We generally collaborate on our posts then, just before dinner, we will hook up all the various devices and start the long process of uploading our posts. I have to admit it is a pain, but something we both look forward to every night in our tent. I believe Mike is going to write about the noise we heard last night so I won't go into great detail, but I will tel ...continued...