Day 6: Trip to Asheville, NC and Mission Hospital

Have you ever driven in the wrong direction for an extended period of time, without realizing it?  Well, this is exactly what happened to us this morning on our way to Asheville, NC.  Apparently I need to practice my "east" and "west" directions, because we went West instead of East for about 45 minutes.  It doesn't sound that bad, but the direction we headed took us winding up narrow mountain roads, and half of the students were carsick by the time we realized we were headed the wrong way.  Fortunately, a quick trip to Starbucks made everyone happy again, and we made it to our destination!

Mission Hospital is very similar to our UnityPoint Methodist hospital, yet there were some amazing new innovations the hospital had adopted.  There is a new wing being built, with double doors to every patient room, hoyer lifts built into all the ceilings to get patients out of bed and to the bathroom, and a private nurses station adjoining two patient rooms.  Nurses all have "panic" buttons attached to their name badges, in case they need extra assistance or immediate help.  The newer patient rooms are all equipped with the latest technology that connects to iphones that the nurses carry.  It would be interesting to have patients sending me text messages instead of utilizing a call light.  Take a look at the students' blogs to learn more about this hospital.

After the hospital tour, we headed to downtown Asheville to explore and go shopping.  Students found all kinds of unique purchases and one student full-filled his lifelong dream of playing on an African drum.

The students really wanted to go white-water rafting, but we missed the last send-off for the day.  So some students decided to catch up on their sleep and took naps at the cabin, whereas the other half of students tested their hiking skills and climbed up to Clingman's Dome - the highest peak in the Smoky Mountains.  We had a great time and even got to see two elks on the side of the road!