Rotations Info!

Click here for the google doc with info from significant others about rotations 

First and Second years:
This handout has been created by those significant others (and a few students) who have been through rotations. This information does not represent the viewpoints of LMU-DCOM, or the SAA. This information was intended to help ease anxieties regarding the next phase of medical school. These are opinions and experiences only, not facts. The sites were sites from last year, and may or may not be future sites. The sites are in alphabetical order. Not all sites are represented.

The following questions were asked to volunteers.

1. Ranking Sites: When ranking the sites, what strategy did you use? What were you looking for in your top spots? If you could re-do your list, what would you change? What number spot did you get for core? What is your advice to ease anxiety with the lottery?

2. The Move/Living situation: When did you move? How did you find housing? Length of leases available? Will/did your family remain at your core site for 1 year, 2 years? What influenced this decision? Do you live together as a family; live separate, little of both? How far of a commute does your student have for different rotations/electives etc?
   
3. Employment: What is your employment status? What were the factors influencing your choice of employment? How did you find employment, etc.?
   
4. Core and Electives: What does core look like at your site? When and how are/were the core rotations decided (does the student choose when each rotation is done/blocked/unblocked, or do the preceptors choose? Is this planned in advance etc.) How does this impact your families living situation or finances? What other 3rd year electives can be done at the core site, or nearby?
   
5. Fourth Year: What are you considering for 4th year as far as living situation (or what did you did if you are a 4th year)? What influenced this decision? Where is your student planning to do audition rotations, and what influenced this decision?
   
6. Social Support: What type of social support have you found in the area? Any struggles or advice?
   
7. Advice/Suggestions: What other advice/insight/information would you like to share regarding your experience with rotations while having a family?

Rotation Site Panel

Rotation Site Panel

For 2nd year students and their families, the beginning of Spring semester brings a lot of questions and anxiety about Step 1 exams, 3rd year core rotations, and the rotation site lottery. In the third week of February, all 2nd year students will rank each of the 23 core rotation sites and submit their ranked list for the lottery. Sometime in March, they will find out what core site they have been assigned and this is where they will be moving for 3rd (and potentially 4th) year.

In follow-up to the January information session with Dr. Wieting, the SAA will host a panel of current 3rd and 4th years spouses and significant others, in person and via online chat, who will provide us with information related to their experiences with rotations and their core rotation sites. The panel will also answer specific questions from any students and families in attendance.

SAA has compiled an informational packet of questions and answers about each core site from at least one 3rd or 4th year student or significant other, which will be provided at the meeting and available for download on the SAA facebook page and blog. Topics covered in the packet include the lottery, finding housing, moving, finances, social support, students hours and experience, student traveling, living situation for long distance families, and general advice.

Please join us for the Rotation Site Panel on February 7th at 6pm in DCOM 306.

December Activities

End of the Semester Activities 

The SAA held and ornament fundraiser to raise funds for future activities for the students and their families. This is the 4th year that a new ornament has been added to the DCOM ornament collection.

The SAA also attended the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony where there were crafts being sold. We set up a booth and sold our ornaments to the guests. 

Throughout the semester, family members purchased what we refer to as "finals boxes" which is a box of snacks to help fuel students through that last week of class. The boxes cost $20, and came with a variety of snacks, a DCOM magnet and a holiday ornament, as well as a personalized letter from their loved one. The boxes were a hit, and we look forward to putting them together for the Spring semester as well! 

Thanksgiving Dinner

LMU-DCOM Thanksgiving Dinner 

On the Monday before Thanksgiving, the SAA put together a Thanksgiving dinner for students, faculty, staff and their families. The SAA provided the meat, and guests provided a side, dessert, or drinks. We had such a great turnout and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! We were sure to have a kids corner for the little ones, so parents could spend some time hanging out while their little ones were occupied. As you can see in the one picture, the dads got to have some quality time with their babies!

Fall Fest

FALL FEST

October 21 we held our annual Fall Festival! 

Despite the wind and rain storm that passed through most people stuck it out and had a great time! The LMU-DCOM Clubs came prepared with activities for the kids and did a great job helping us pull together this event! The free cotton candy and hot chocolate seemed to be a hit with everyone! We even had a haunted sim lab, which seemed to be a great escape from the rain storm! 

Social Activities this far

Social Activities for Significant Others 

This year we have put together a social committee. This group has been working to create social activities for everyone to participate.

A monthly book club has been started for significant others. This picture is from the September meeting where members discussed their reading of When Breath Becomes Air.  

We have also had a game night, go for walks, and continue our monthly Saturday Morning Coffee. 

This month we plan to have a craft night, and next month a painting night in Morristown.

Fall Festival Plans

It's October already!! 

This semester has flown by, and the SAA has been busy as ever! 

Over the last 6 week, the SAA has hosted an event planning session to plan Fall Fest. Fall fest this year will be bigger and better than ever! It will have a chili cook off, prize drawing, bounce house, fire truck for the kids, photo booth, costume contest, corn hole, ladder ball, face painting, and SO MUCH MORE!!!Fall Fest is for all DCOM students, faculty, staff and their families. It is a great time for everyone to get together, relax, and celebrate the Fall season. 

If you are interested in entering your chili into the cook off please email us! There will be a $25 gift card for the chili with the MOST VOTES!

Osteoblast was a success!! 

The SAA attended Osteoblast this year with the other DCOM clubs. Osteoblast is an event when the clubs promote their clubs to first year students. It is a time when students (and sometimes their families) come learn about what each club has to offer, their mission, activities, and opportunities for students. 

This year the SAA had an interactive trivia game where students were asked a questions about a variety of topics such as Osteopathic Medicine or the SAA in general. We had a lot of free giveaways- our travel mugs donated by the AAOA were a hit! 

SURVIVED TEST WEEKEND! 

Both the first and second year students and significant others have survived the first test weekend! For those who are not local, test weekend is a dreaded and exhausting weekend! Although the students attend class, and study endlessly after class, the weekend before the test can consist of 12-15 hour study sessions, if not all-nighters for some students! This is not only difficult on the students, but challenging for the significant others who may have waited all week to spend the weekend with their student! This is where socialization is KEY!!!

We had our first Saturday Morning Coffee with a record number of guests and children! 18 adults and 14 children! 

THIS COMING WEEKEND WE WILL HAVE 

AN ADULT-ONLY WINE AND PAINT NIGHT!!!

See details on our private spouse page

Cookie/Snack day!

One way that the SAA supports the students is by providing a small treat before test weekends! With the first TEST WEEK approaching quickly, we decided to get some baked goods to our students this week!! 

The SAA provides these days by receiving donations from SAA members, family, faculty & the community. If you are not local and would like to contribute, please visit our online store and one of our members will either purchase baked goods, or purchase ingredients to make baked goods on your behalf. 

Click here to visit our online store

The first Cookie/Snack day is:

Wednesday August 8 

Noon - items run out 

DCOM 2nd floor lounge 

 

August 2016 - Family Newsletter

Forming Committees

SAA Committees 

The SAA will have 3-4 committees that will have a designated purpose throughout the year. We encourage members, students, significant others, and other DCOM affiliated individuals to join a committee to help make this years SAA great! 

Click here to sign-up

Social & Events Committee: (Depending on interest, we may divide this into two groups. There are currently 3 areas that are addressed in this committee) 

• Social Activities for Significant others: Encourage significant others to attend social events such as Saturday Morning Coffee, adult nights, hikes, movie night, poker etc. You will be responsible for utilizing the DCOM spouses webpage to get others socializing and developing support networks. SAA will coordinate August social activities, and the committee will take over for September. 
• Event Planning aspect: Be a part in planning events such as SAA events (Fall Fest & Thanksgiving) as well as Student run events (Osteoblast & Cooper's Carnival).

Fundraising Committee:

• Collect donations for fall fest 
• Create fundraising ideas
• Brainstorm ways to market our merchandise 

Community Advocacy:

• Develop a proposal for the Special Interest Funds available to the SAA. Applications are due next spring/early summer for the following year. 
• The community projects are limitless! 

First Meeting -August 2 @ 6pm

Please join us for our First Meeting! 

Many of you have experienced a lot of changes in the last couple weeks, with moving to a new town, becoming a part of DCOM, changing and seeking employment, as well as supporting your student as he/she begins Medical School. At our first meeting, we hope to help ease some anxieties as it relates to what to expect over the next 4 years. 

At our First Meeting we will: 

• Review a Medical School Road Map to help break down the next 4 years 
• Guest Speaker from the LMU Pool - Pool memberships will be given away! 
• Meet 2nd years and hopefully get some advice on surviving first year 
• Sign up for committees to start SAA involvement
• Collect dues from anyone wanting to join the AAOA/SAA
  
  
  MEETING DETAILS: 
• TUESDAY AUGUST 2
• 6pm 
• room 305 
• CHILDCARE room 306

Orientation Follow-Up

WE NOW HAVE OUR RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU!!

We have now made some helpful resources available through this blog 

NEW!!!   EMPLOYMENT PAGE- Under the employment tab you can find an ongoing list of jobs in the community. These positions have been sent to the SAA from community members and DCOM significant others. This page will continue to be updated as we hear of new positions. Please e-mail us if you hear of any leads 

NEW!!!! RESOURCES- Under this tab you can find all of our documents that we provide at our significant other orientation. This includes: Community resources such as healthcare, vets, mechanics, government assistance, license/registration info, and so much more! Also, included is a babysitting list, fun things to do in the area, Facebook pages of interest and more!!

NEW!!! FAMILY CONTACT INFO- With students being very busy and entering a new lifestyle, SAA would like to keep your family members up to date by sending a monthly e-mail
Click here to submit Family Member Info

NEW!!! INTEREST FORM- Please share with us some information to help us make this years SAA about you and your family!!  Click here to give SAA your interests

NEW!!! OSTEOPATHIC PROFESSION EDUCATION- Osteopathic Education  

Merchandise Available!!

We've released our new merchandise!! 

Please see our store for our newest T-shirt designs as well holiday ornaments. This is also the place to purchase a goodie box for your student to receive during finals week!! 

Click here to visit our store

First order is due August 12th

Orders will be available for pick-up on campus 2-3 weeks after deadline

Please stay posted for the date, time & pickup location 

Below are the Logos that we have available in our store! 

Orientation 2016

July 26, 2016---8am-3pm 

Morning session with your student 

Afternoon session with the Student Advocate Association 

Children's activities will be provided for BOTH portions of orientation. 

Spouses and significant others are invited to attend the morning orientation with their student. This orientation begins at 8am and will last until 11:30am/noon. Following this portion of orientation, students will have lunch with their advisors and classmates, Spouses/significant others will have a private lunch with the SAA (children will attend lunch).

Following lunch the SAA will have their own orientation geared towards the spouses and significant others. This orientation will last until around 3pm. 

 

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM ORIENTATION??

*You will learn what the SAA is and how it can benefit you and your family
*Guest speaker from the American Osteopathic Association
*Guest speaker from the LMU medical clinic
*Guest speaker to educate you on Osteopathic medicine
*Opportunity to get to know other spouses and significant others
*Learn about activities and events that will occur throughout the year
*Access to community resources, things to do in the area, insight into first year
*AND MUCH MORE!!!!!!!!!

TO ATTEND ORIENTATION: Have your student check his/her e-mail and follow the registration link

 

A glimpse of 2015-2016

It's that time of year again where we start saying good-bye to our 2nd year families! This is a bitter sweet time for everyone, as we are excited for their new journey for rotations, but sad to have our friendships changing. Below are some pictures from this past year including our Saturday morning get togethers, play dates and more! 

Planning for 2016-2017!

Our board has started meeting to plan activities and events for the upcoming year. We are extremely excited about some of the ideas being brought to the table and look forward to meeting all of the new significant others!! Some activities and events that we are planning for this year include:

• Saturday morning coffee get together - Last year we had great success with this get together. You don't even have to drink coffee to attend! It's simply a kickoff to the weekend where spouses/significant others take turns hosting and everyone mingles and gets to know each other 
• Adult-only night - Once a month we will host an event for adults only. These events will include wine & paint night, bowling, or crock-pot/freezer meal prep. 
• Play dates - Once a week we will coordinate play dates at the Harrogate Park 
• SAA Meetings - SAA Meetings will provide members with exclusive access to special meetings such as a couples workshop on how to survive medical school as a couple, review a road map to medical school, financial advisors session, private discussion regarding rotations, as well as many other meetings just for SAA members!
• Event planning meetings - At our board meetings we will plan events such as a Fall Festival for students, faculty and their families as well as a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone. Members are invited to participate in these planning sessions and encouraged to volunteer at events. 

We look forward to all of these activities and welcome ideas from everyone!

It's cookie day!!!!  Send your students by the 2nd floor lobby of DCOM from 12-1 pm today for free cookies!

Fall Festival

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Fall Festival last Friday evening.  Everyone looked great in their costumes!

Next Tuesday, November 3 at 6:30 pm we will be having our next meeting.  We will be working on making Gratitude Trees and a recipe swap and signing up to cook hams and turkeys for Thanksgiving Dinner.  Bring your favorite fall recipe to share.  Childcare will be provided.

The SAA is hosting our annual Thanksgiving Dinner for all DCOM students, staff, and faculty on Monday, November 23rd at 5:30pm in the DCOM 2nd floor lounge.

The SAA will be providing the meat and paper products for the meal. Please see below for food assignments:

Last Names A-D: Bread

Last Names E-H: Drinks

Last Names I-Q: Desserts 

Last Names R-Z: Side Dishes

Please feel free to invite other DCOM students and their families as this event is open to all DCOM students, staff, and faculty. If you extend an invitation to somebody, please pass along the information on what type of food to bring to ensure we have enough for everyone in attendance.

We will also be having a food drive that evening for a local food bank.  Please bring shelf stable foods (cans, cake mixes, etc.) to donate that evening.