a day in the life of a social worker in the women's center

8:45am- arrive at work and make a list of patients that i have referrals to see.

9-beeper. breakfast meeting i was not planning on with some vendor lady that i do not have time for today.

10- beeper. finnally get back to my office and rush off to see a 25 year old woman who just delivered a healthy baby, but she has a history of drug abuse. (nurse was getting antsy to see what the deal was so she beeped me with her "emergency"). i walk into waking a woman that looks like she was dead to the world. chit chatty stuff and then the "so i read in your chart there is a history of drug abuse". major back peddling by this woman who is slurring her speech from being so tired. "so, why don't you tell me a little about this drug abuse." more lies come from her mouth and i leave the room running to make a call to DFCS.

10:30- see two ladies with a history of depression. i do some post partum depression(PPD) teaching and make sure they agree to call their doctor if they exhibit any symptoms.

11- attend a meeting on the high risk unit and go over all the patients to see how they are progressing.

11:30- meet with a 16 and 19 year old who just had babies. make sure they have all their baby supplies (car seat, crib, clothes), know how to add their baby to medicaid and wic, have good support from family, good living situation, ideas of returning to school or work, SEX EDUCATION, ppd, etc.)

12pm- stop in to check on all my high risk patients(which i do two or three times a week) and make sure they are not going crazy in their hospital room on bed rests for two + months.

12:30- run to the dollar store for party decor and pick up chick-fil-a.

1:15- beeper. Labor and Delivery (l&d) calls to tell me they have an intrauterine fetal demise(IUFD or deceased baby ) at 28 weeks and that the patient has already delivered. i normally have a heads up on these patients and meet with them before and after they deliver. this lady showed up at the doctor's office fully dilated and no heartbeat. patient was rushed to our hospital to deliver fast. i go in to offer support, a memory envelope with a baby gown and blanket, support group info, grief booklets, and go over funeral arrangements.

2:15- i am finnally back up on the postpartum unit to see a few more patients who need some community resources for getting help with baby supplies, money for rent and food, medicaid and wic info,etc.

3:15- beeper. l&d has another IUFD, but this one needs a ride to North Fulton hospital too. what in the world? long story short, the pt. has an IUFD around 30 weeks still inside her and has to get to North Fulton hospital, b/c her primary doctor (who only delivers at that hospital) wants to do a ceasarian and tubal ligation at the same time. our hospital will not do the tubal b/c we do not know her history. the patient has no money, and no family members with gas to get her there. she spent the last bit of her money paying for a taxi to get to the hospital that she thought her doctor delivered at. poor girl. so, i arranged a taxi through our hospital to take her to the other hospital. to top things off for this girl, this baby was conceived by rape. i offered alot of support during our wait on that taxi.

4:15- walk back to my office while calling my mom to tell her i am going to be late. i am so behind on charting, so i write notes in the charts of all my patients as fast as i can.

5:30- way later than i like to leave from work... i walk out to my car thinking about how blessed i am and that God trully has a purpose for every single woman whether she acknowledges Him or not.