Networking

My wife and I attend a good sized church--about 10,000 members. It's big enough that we felt a little lost for awhile, and were torn about attending there at all. That is, until we got connected with a small group, and that made all the difference. But that's another post.

It turns out that our small group is led by the facilities director at the church, so we're often privy to a behind-the-curtain glimpse of what's going on. Considering the number of people on the church campus every Sunday, my friend decided it might be a good idea to have an emergency medical response team put together. In the process of recruiting volunteers for this team, he met a CRNA. Of course my friend mentioned that I was hoping to go to CRNA school in a few years, and the CRNA asked him to give me his email address.

I emailed the guy, we exchanged phone numbers, and I finally got to talk to him on Monday.

He spent about 30 minutes on the phone with me, answering all my questions about CRNA school, the CRNA job market, where he thinks the future for CRNAs will go, etc. Back when I was contemplating medical school, one of the biggest reasons I let go of that dream was the responses I got to the question I put to most of the physicians I'd interact with: "If you had it to do all over again, would you still choose to go to medical school?" Rarely did I get a physician tell me, "Yes, absolutely." And when they would say yes, it was always with qualifications or reservations. Mr. CRNA answered unequivocally that yes he'd do it again, no reservations. He loves his job.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much peace of mind this gives me. This is a running theme I've noticed with nearly every CRNA I've met. They're funny, engaging people that are a blast to be around. My guess is that it's because they're HAPPY. Nurse friends, tell me how many docs that you interact with, you can just tell they're HAPPY.

Anyway, back to the story. It turns out Mr. CRNA is not only a CRNA, but he owns a private practice that staffs two day surgery centers. But more than that, he is also a regular lecturer, at the school I want to attend. With. friends. on. the. admission. committee.

I have never met the guy, but he has already told me that if I do the work to get an interview (grades, work experience, GRE score) he'll sit down with me and help prepare me with actual questions the committee might will ask me. Then if he feels good about that, he'll call his admissions committee friends and drop my name.

Oh, and he wants to get together for lunch in the meantime.

God is good.

PS: No word from the externship hospital, yes, or no. Beginning to wonder if it was an organization I actually want to be a part of in the first place.