Caught in Between

I did not expect to start my first blog of the semester the way that I am about to. However, I do feel as though it’s important to write about the good and bad events that directly affect the Hopkins community (and that prospective students may have heard about).

At around 11 am last Thursday I arrived at the Center for a Livable Future, the beloved office I work at the School of Public Health. One of my supervisors asked if a person in the office would be willing to run to Office Depot to buy paper for a last minute printing. A current employee and I offered to drive to Office Depot. We were excited. It’s not often that we leave the office at work.

It was 11:30 by the time we finally got out of the labyrinth of the parking garage. As co-pilot, I directed my friend down Wolfe St. It didn’t take very long to realize that we would have to go down another street. Ahead was an atypical scene: crime tape thrown around half of the block, reporters frantically setting up tripods, and a SWAT team running from a van.

“Well, I don’t think it’s a car accident,” I said. We honestly didn’t think much of it. And we followed a policeman who directed us down the next street and watched as construction workers just a block away went about business as usual. Little did we know that while we were driving the Maryland State Police was put on stand by and the FBI was called in.

We arrived at Office Depot to find my friend’s phone, which had been on silent, with five missed calls text messages, and voicemails from our co-workers. We quickly listened to the voicemail and selectively heard only a few words: shooting, hostage, stay put.

After an hour and a half of office supplies shopping and a call from the office to “just go home,” the details of the incident became clearer. A gunman became overwhelmed when a doctor told him about his mother’s medical condition and opened fire. A couple hours later the gunman and his mother were declared dead in the mother’s hospital room. The case was defined as a murder-suicide and the doctor is expected to make a full recovery.

***

In my Honors in Public Health course today, the instructor, a doctor at the Johns Hopkins hospital, discussed the incident with the class and her personal take on the story. In class we reminded ourselves that this was a random act of violence that could have happened at any hospital. In some ways it serves as a reminder of the everyday, and in this case tragic, stress that caregivers have within their profession.

For the instructor, she has checked-in with the doctor, hoping that he continues to recover. She is not the only one thinking of the doctor. As President Daniels said in an e-mail, “…the thoughts and prayers of all of us at Johns Hopkins are with our colleague.”

“All of us at Johns Hopkins?” For me this event reminds me of who exactly the Hopkins community is at large. Daily I find myself proud to be a part of this community. The Johns Hopkins community to me is an ever expanding entity. Communities within communities within communities, but somehow all remaining somewhat inter-connected.

Think about it: you’ve got me in the School of Arts and Sciences, which is within the Homewood main campus, but then you’ve got the East Baltimore Schools (the School of Nursing, School of Medicine, School of Public Health). Need more? Well, then there are the downtown Baltimore Hopkins communities (the Peabody Institute and the School of Business). As we expand out of Baltimore, more and more communities begin to emerge. You’ve got SAIS (the School of Advanced International Studies) in D.C. and the Applied Physics laboratory in Laurel, MD. And the Hopkins community continues to expand internationally to Hopkins-affiliated centers in Italy and China.

And still all of us are wishing best wishes for a doctor many of us do not directly know. Why? Because we’re all connected within this community. But these communities are also within broader communities. Baltimore and its surrounding areas are so interwoven into the Johns Hopkins communities. Johns Hopkins Institutions continue to be the largest private employer in the state of Maryland. The Johns Hopkins Hospital alone has 80,000 visitors a week all of those people within their own communities. I continue to be overwhelmed by just how many people in the community the Hospital alone serves. And, after this incident, proud of how Hopkins caregivers continue to go about their daily life of helping the health of their community.

Again, as President Daniels said, during the incident, “Those who were not directly involved kept on doing what they are there to do: The hospital remained in operation. Patients were taken care of. Faculty taught, students learned, staff did their critical work in support of the Johns Hopkins mission. I am grateful to you all.” The Hopkins community is truly a strong one.

For me, I have recently returned from studying abroad last semester. Yes, this incident made me realize that I’m not in Switzerland anymore. But it’s been nice to be back on the Homewood and Bloomberg School of Public Health campuses and have a feeling of belonging. A feeling that I haven’t gotten everywhere I’ve been. As a senior, it’s been especially rewarding to watch as the freshmen, especially the newest freshmen bloggers, are welcomed into the Johns Hopkins community. I hope they too (along with future students) are able to see how large of a community they belong to. A community that continues to help others within even larger communities.

Representing the Hopkins community no matter where I am. (Ouro Preto, Brazil, 2009)

Stay tuned to hear about all the fun classes I’m taking this semester. No joke. They are fun.

Photo Credit: Greco

Posted by Lauren B.

Spring is in the air here at Hopkins, making it very hard to focus on the mounting piles of work, as exams are in the air as well. It’s been getting warmer and summer is definitely just around the corner, which is very exciting, and for those of us going abroad, a little bittersweet.

I’ve been working a lot at the Open Houses and the inevitable question, “What do you like about Hopkins,” has been asked a million times. I love Hopkins, but it’s been making me a little sad to talk about what a great place it is here while knowing I won’t be here for the next four months (P.S. if this isn’t making any sense to you, check out my Study Abroad post…. http://blogs.hopkins-interactive.com/shared/2010/04/where-in-the-world-will-lauren-brown-be-next-semester/)

For the moment at least I am still here, so in the spirit of the last two days of college decision making, I thought I’d tell you what I like the most about this place.

1. The People: I was pretty sure about Hopkins, but visiting campus sealed the deal. Meeting the current and prospective students was incredibly inspiring. I met very normal people who casually invented something in high school, did cancer research, took a year off to travel the world, spoke three languages. Now that I’m here I realize that was only the tip of the iceberg. Everyone here is smart, but it’s the things people do outside the classroom that really wow me. Just in my sorority, I know girls who’ve worked for the UN (in three different countries), biked across the country to raise money for cancer research, interned with Kate Spade, worked and lobbied on Capitol Hill, I could go on. It’s really insane how involved everyone is, but more importantly it creates an environment where you start to expect these things of yourself too. This is a school that challenges you to be the best possible version of yourself, simply by exposing you to all of these options.

2. Baltimore: In my mind, Baltimore was certainly not a reason to come to Hopkins, in fact it was the very opposite. Since I’ve gotten here though, I’ve realized what a great place this is to live. I love the quirky little neighborhoods, the funny “hon” accent, the restaurants, the harbor at night, just to name a few. If you come here, you get the chance to turn this into your city. I can’t separate my Hopkins experience from my Baltimore experience… escaping to Roland Park Starbucks with my roommates, running slash aspirational house shopping in the beautiful neighborhoods to the north of campus, all the great places we’ve had Phi Mu formals, trying to experience the local cuisine (Berger cookies) and befriending a vintage store owner in Fells Point. Baltimore is a great city, and a wonderful backdrop to your college experience. Don’t miss on out it because you believed “The Wire” was a real depiction of life here (for the thousandth time, it’s not)!

3. Public Health (The Academics): The academics here overall are great, but obviously I know the most about my own major. Let’s assume they’re all like this! I’ve gotten internship advice, recommendations, work experience, and real life advice from my advisor, whose notes on my file include things like “Teach for America?” “likes to run!” and “travels”…things that are all really important to me as a person, but aren’t quite relevant to which 300 level social science I’ll be taking come fall. It’s nice to know that the person in charge of your academic career here has a good idea of who you are as a person. The department does a great job of publicizing everything Public Health related–rallies, internships, volunteer opportunities, speakers on campus, and then the fussy but important things like registration deadlines and grad school info.

4. The people who aren’t professors (though they’re great too): It’s a big transition to college, and it certainly helps that Hopkins seems to employ some of the jolliest people in Baltimore. The security guards in my building know all of our names, and tell me to have a good day when I grouch by on my way to class in the morning. The women at Einstein’s and Char Mar are actually the sunniest people I’ve ever met, and it doesn’t hurt that they call everyone “honey.” The director of Study Abroad called up my mother to convince/reassure her that I should go to South Africa for the semester. My roommate’s boss brought her “Charm City Cupcakes” today, and freshman year the cashier at Pura Vida Coffee memorized my friend Jillie’s morning order and would start making it for her when she saw us (usually late) running to class. It’s nice to have such a friendly campus!

I could go on for ages about Hopkins (and I’m sorry, if I met you at an Open House I probably did), but this basically sums it up. Hopkins has the “whole package” in my mind–the beautiful campus, the amazing, intelligent people, inspiring professors, great academics, and then the nice but not vital add-ons like a cool city to live in, really nice staff, comfortable dorms, delicious restaurants, a fun neighborhood, (usually) good weather.

If you haven’t already decided to come to Hopkins, I hope this helped you take the plunge, send in your deposit check and buy the sweatshirt/coffee cup/bumper sticker/all of the above. Good luck, and I hope to see you here in September!

-Lauren

P.S. speaking of amazingly talented Hopkins people, thank you to Greco for taking all these beautiful pictures!