... at Emory Healthcare, where I had an appointment last Friday afternoon to meet for the initial interview went well. I hope I gave all the right answers, though I know when I was asked to count backwards from 100 by sevens I likely failed that one miserably. I told the guy who was asking all the questions I was ready for that one, and wanted him to know my answer was always going to be 93. That's as far as I can get, though it is possible I could do a wee bit better with pencil and paper.
I suppose when I tell people I never learned how to multiply they think I am trying to be funny? I am not, and it is not. It's just the sad truth.
I guess the facility where I was instructed to appear at 1 o'clock: Wesley Woods, is on the Emory campus, but it is in a densely wooded area surrounded by colorful deciduous trees and sort of isolated from any buildings that might look like halls of education. I got there a little late, having stopped at the wrong building knowing I was not in the right place, but not sure where I should be. I was directed to drive a little more into the woods to the next building that apparently is the home for a number of research projects. My driving instructions emphatically stated 'do not go over the bridge', causing me to stop and ask to get pointed in the right direction. Arrived a bit behind schedule, but welcomed. The young man who was to interview me called as I was en route, and I told him I would be there shortly.
He met me and directed me into a little cubicle/exam room and we started with documentation. Lots of pages of questions for him to ask, spaces to record responses. Lots of pages of questions for me to complete. Most of it was related to the study, describing what the goal is, how it will work, and what will be expected of me if I qualify as a participant. I was there nearly two hours, giving answers. I would guess that there were as many questions to be certain I understood what the study was for, how it would work, and answers they hoped to find - as there were evaluating me for memory and general health.
The interviewer was originally from Nigeria, so he had a pretty strong accent, with English not being his primary language. At one point when he said something that had the word 'memory' in the sentence, I questioned him, explaining the word when it came out of his mouth sounded like a body part. He looked so perplexed, I was compelled to explain and said that with his accent the word sounds like' breasts', as in 'mammary': he laughed heartily and said he would certainly be practicing his pronunciation.
No comments:
Post a Comment