An Article About Me

My school published this article in its marketing magazing about my experience with the Oakland Raiders.


PT student joins Oakland Raiders training camp

ASHS student Shaun Palmer, PT ’10, escaped the desert heat when he was given the opportunity to join the Oakland Raiders’ six-week preseason training camp as a medical staff intern July 29 in Napa Valley, Calif.
Historically, NFL teams maintain a relatively small medical staff throughout the regular season. However, during preseason, new draft picks, returning veterans, and new trades can double team sizes before the start of the regular season. The regular medical staff is then faced with a problem of finding preseason help.
ATSU Director of Human Anatomy Sue Hillman helped Palmer land the job. Scott Touchet, the Raiders’ assistant athletic trainer, was a graduate student of Hillman’s at the University of Arizona, and he calls her each year in search of good interns to help with training camp. After interviewing with the Raiders’ lead trainer, Palmer was offered the position and flew to California where he would spend the next month and a half.
A typical work day for Palmer and the other interns was 16 hours with 6 a.m. wake-up calls. On practice days, interns were charged with setting up training rooms, setting up the practice field with Gatorade, water, and medical kits, and even serving as “cramp patrol” during team meetings. On game days, interns arrived with the medical staff five hours prior to game time to set up the field with Gatorade and medical equipment. They then worked in the training room to provide needed treatment, eventually ending up on the field helping players stretch and providing water during pre-game drills. Following the game, they helped tear down the field and provide treatment.
Before his work with the Oakland Raiders, Palmer had always thought he would enjoy a career in Major League Baseball. Yet after training camp, he admits that he would now consider a career in the NFL. “I always thought of football as intimidating because of the number of traumatic injuries, especially spinal cord injuries,” he said. “But working in the NFL was a lot of fun, and it reinforced that I definitely know enough to survive in the sport and be a competent healthcare professional.”
According to Hillman, Shaun has a rare chance that not many PT students get to be a part of. “Shaun had the opportunity to be a medical staff member for an NFL team,” she said. “To some, it is a dream come true. To Shaun, it is part of his total education.”

I know I know. I'm trying

I fully realize how long I've been away from blogging. The truth is I've been exhausted. Too exhausted to write something meaningful. Meanwhile I know what I want to write about, but I need enough time and energy, and for those two things to exist at the same time, in order for me to get a blog together. I'll at least tell you what I've been up to lately.

I've been working hard in my first clinical rotation. I've been at Phoenix St. Lukes Hospital for the past 5 weeks and I have 3 weeks left to go. It isn't at all the setting that I want to work in, but it's necessary in order to graduate. I have learned some things that I hadn't planned on learning and I've met someone who will hopefully be very influential in getting me my dream job...more about that at a later date. I know this is where God wanted me to be at this time because of things being put into place that I could never have thought I would run into at this hospital. After this rotation, I will be doing my next rotation at Healthsouth Valley of the Sun rehab hospital. It's a unit that sees a lot of spinal cord trauma, stroke, and amputee patients. It will be a very challenging rotation for me, but I know it will stretch me and teach me.

Away from school, Natalie and I are moving in 2 weeks! We are staying in the same townhome complex that we are in now, but we are upgrading to a bigger townhome. We love this place so much and the location is so perfect that we couldn't justify leaving this area right now, but at the same time we are bursting at the seems in our current place. Our current townhome is just over 8oo square feet and it's a 1 bedroom/1 bath. Inside that one bedroom is our bed, 2 desks, 2 book cases, and our dresser. If you're imagining a tight fit, you're right. The new place is a 2 bedroom/2 bath, and is a little over 1200 sq ft. It also has a 2-car garage instead of just a 1-car garage. So my car can be parked inside now too! We started thinking about moving about 2 months before I left for Oakland. I talked to the front office and told them what we wanted to do, but we had a very specific idea of where we wanted to move. We had a block of about 4 townhomes picked out that we would want to move into if one came available. So we knew our odds weren't great for getting one that we wanted. But a couple days after I got back from Oakland, I happened to be going to the front office to pay rent and our sales lady took me aside and told me that one might be coming open, and it was right in that area that we wanted. Within the week it was finalized that it would be ours. So now we move in 2 weeks. It's at a perfect place in the complex. It faces the pool and is right by the mailboxes. I feel so fortunate that we get to move there. We are so happy that we can now have an office that is separate from our bedroom.

Besides that we both still work on the weekends at Fox Sports Grill in Scottsdale. We are both in our last year of having to work in a restaurant on the weekends. Natalie graduates in 5 months and I graduate in about 10 months. We can't wait. It will be so nice to work in our professions and actually be getting paid for it.

Debriefing

I know. I know. Now that I'm back, you all want to know what happened at training camp. Maybe interesting stories, funny athletes, pictures, etc. Well...It's coming. I think. I'm busy. I hit the ground running when I got back. So I'm coming up with inspiration and deciding what I can and cannot tell. There are rules about what can and cannot be said about things that are seen and heard at that level. So as I decide what to post and get more pictures hopefully, you can just keep checking back.

In other news:
Natalie and I are moving into a bigger townhome. It's something we've wanted to do for a while and we have held out for a really good one in a specific area of the complex, and we finally got it. We will be moving in mid October.

I am in clinicals in the hospital. It's definately not my setting, but I'm learning some interesting things. Better than anything else, it's going fast.

I graduate in less than 11 months!!!

Almost There

As most of you know, I have been a medical intern at Oakland Raiders' Training Camp since July 26th. It's weird to think that I've been away from home for so long. I've been so busy here that it has seemed to go by really fast. I am now in week 5, which is my last week here. Saturday night will be my last night with the team as they have a home game in Oakland against the New Orleans Saints. Then I fly home Sunday morning. It's been a great experience. There have been some problems and frustrations along the way, but overall I have had a lot of great experiences and great stories that I can't wait to share. The NFL is definately a different operation from anything else that I've ever experienced. It has been a lot of fun to be a part of something like this though. Being on the sidelines of an NFL game is incredible. I can't wait to tell everyone about it. Until then, I have part of a week left to go. We move from Napa back to Alameda/Oakland on Thursday and Saturday is my last game here. Then no more living out of a hotel. I haven't seen my own bed in way too long. Most of all I've missed my incredible wife. I can't wait to see her and I'm already getting excited just knowing that it's close. I will update you all more soon and hopefully I'll have many pictures for you.

Caught on film

I was caught in the background of a picture at the Raider Nation celebration. Finally proof that I'm here with the team. It's not just a crazy story.

A little something

Ever wonder how much gatorade and water an NFL team goes through? Here's an idea.

This lasts us about 1-2 weeks.

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Well...I know when I'll be back, but it won't be for a while. This is my last post from home. Tomorrow morning I fly out to Oakland where I'll then drive up to Napa for a tour of the hotel, practice fields, and the town. Upon arriving I will also be meeting the guys that I will be spending every waking hour with for the next month. I hope to be updating this as much as possible. I'm told I will have internet on night duty in the hotel when the players are in their meetings. I'm hoping to have pictures also, but we'll see. I don't quite know what the situation will be and what the day-to-day activities will look like. If you see a sportscenter story on the Raider's training camp, be sure to watch the sidelines to see if I'm wandering around somewhere. Hopefully I won't be doing anything stupid. I have a tendency toward bad timing.

I will really miss everyone. The realization of what is happening still hasn't set in. I can't believe that I'm leaving for this long. Please keep me in your prayers for safe travels and that my neck/head symptoms will not hinder me at all. That is my biggest worry. I'm going to have very long, hard days out there and I don't want those problems to get in the way.

So until later (don't know when), I will leave you with the fairwell from my favorite TV show that I will also be missing while I'm gone.

"Goodnight. And big balls."
-John Henson / Wipeout

Does this look right to you?

I got this ad in the Valpak that comes in the mail. I usually just throw the envelope away without opening it, but I'm glad I looked through this one. When first looking at this ad I thought, "Oh, that looks like a pretty cool school." Then I continued to read. I want to point your attention to the fact that this is a high school that offers free child care. Well that would explain why it's a fun high school. Apparently there are a bunch of easy high school girls prowling around the campus. It's unbelievable that a high school is actually offering free day care because they think there are really that many high schoolers that have kids. I really don't have anything else to say about this. This is the first time I've seen this concept and I hope I never see it again. I wonder if sex-ed class is part of the standard curriculum there.

What Do I Know of Holy

I was taking a nap on the couch while XM satellite radio was playing in the background. As I woke up this song was playing. The words are chilling to think about - to look inward and determine if we really know what holy is. Would we really know who God was if He stood before us?

What Do I Know of Holy
by Addison Road

I made You promises a thousand times
I tried to hear from Heaven
But I talked the whole time
I think I made You too small
I never feared You at all No
If You touched my face would I know You?
Looked into my eyes could I behold You?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know?
What do I know of Holy?
I guess I thought that I had figured You out
I knew all the stories and I learned to talk about
How You were mighty to save
Those were only empty words on a page
Then I caught a glimpse of who You might be
The slightest hint of You brought me down to my knees

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know? What do I know of Holy?

(CHORUS 2)
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of wounds that will heal my shame?
And a God who gave life "its" name?
What do I know of Holy?
Of the One who the angels praise?
All creation knows Your name
On earth and heaven above
What do I know of this love?

(CHORUS)
What do I know of You
Who spoke me into motion?
Where have I even stood
But the shore along Your ocean?
Are You fire? Are You fury?
Are You sacred? Are You beautiful?
What do I know?
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?
What do I know of Holy?

I'm Speechless

This is not a joke. I repeat, this is not a joke. They really are selling Chia Obamas - and you can get them with the facial expressions of "happy" or "determined". I'm not quite sure whether to laugh, cry, shake my head in disbelief, boycott the chia company (which I already do as a matter of fact), boycott television for even running the ridiculous ad, or resort to heavy drinking in order to attempt to forget that I live in a country where people are so ridiculous that they would even consider selling this product - let alone follow through with selling it. Or even worse, let's not forget that some people actually buy this thing - yes they spend their hard-earned money on it. Or maybe people are buying it with the money they get back from the taxes that they didn't pay. I'm guessing that fantastic trinkets like this are the reason why they're poor. I would give you the website to go see it for yourself but, (1) refer to my boycott of the chia company, and (2) I think you could find it on your own if you really try hard enough.