Reflections on Tulane: my brief internship in Psychiatry there prior to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005

I was once a Tulane Psychiatry Intern. I transferred out of the program AFTER Hurricane Katrina devastated our city of New Orleans on Aug 29th, 2005, forcing me to leave my home state of Louisiana and their program, and to transfer into another psychiatry residency program in Massachusetts at Harvard. Nonetheless, I did perform 2 months of training with this spectacular program and would like to share my experience with you: A typical day for an intern such as myself consisted of arriving on the unit around 7:30am to pre-round on my patients, talk with the staff to see how things went during the evening and night prior. Afterwards, we (me and the Tulane medical students) would talk with the patients and write our notes. The Tulane medical students are very helpful with interviewing the patients, writing Progress notes, setting up appointments, etc. Around 9 am, we had group therapy, which the Intern conducted with a Psychologist. At 10:30am, my attending psychiatrist arrived, and he would inquire about the patients, we would update the charts, write notes, and interview the new patients admitted the night before from the Charity Hospital Emergency Room. We'd have lunch after of this. Between 1pm and 4pm, I would cover a few things that needed to be done (call the pt's family, set up appointments, talk some more with the patients, teach my medical students a certain topic via a lecture), then go home. It is really up to you when you left: it could be early or late, depending on your speed/efficiency. No one is breathing down your back, watching you or making you stay until a certain time. It is very, very laid back! The social service ladies and nurses are all fantastic and helpful, making your work very easy. The call schedule was terrific, probably the best in the country from what I've seen on other residency sites; it was q8-q10 the first year, beeper call the second year, no call for 3rd or 4th year. While on call, which is overnight, you were always with an Attending and a Moonlighter (passed Step 3, has a license and is usually in their 4th year). So, you were covered for very difficult cases. The call room was on the same floor as the Pscyh ER, which was convenient, and you were provided free meal tickets. We had a lot of lectures during the week, but thankfully not too many to keep you from getting your work done. It was protected lecture time; so one could actually step away briefly from patient care in order to attend to the lecture. Lastly, on Thursdays, twice monthly, we may have to go to the local courthouse and testify whether or not to keep a patient judicially committed to the hospital...it was a question of legal status for the inpatient. The experience was not too bad, but somewhat intimidating because it was in front of a judge and there were lawyers. Nonetheless, you had a lawyer, too, and a psychiatrist who testified with you/for your case. Teaching: The learning experience was actually superb. The Attendings were very knowledgeable in many areas of medicine and psychiatry. Moreover, all the teaching was upheld: rarely, if ever, was a lecture cancelled. Interns were asked to prepare small lectures to give to each other; so, we were given a topic out of a psychopharmacology text, and the next week, we gave a "lecture" about it. The Residency Director (Dr. P. O'Neill) presided over these lectures, and he gave additional information as well. The atmosphere was quite comfortable and benign. Again, the program is probably the most pleasant one around, and their is a very reassuring comraderie among the residents and the attending staff. The grand rounds on Friday were pretty good: lots of lectures on PTSD. There were always, always free lunches from pharmaceutical companies on those days, too. Atmosphere: Outside of work, every week there was a pharmaceutical-sponsored dinner at a 4 or 5 star New Orleans restaurant! We had valet parking, could choose any drink and any meal choice from the menu. The guest speaker was always some famous person in the field of Psychiatry from some big name university, and again, the atmosphere was pleasant. Conclusion: The positives are mentioned above: the staff, teaching and atmosphere are unsurpassable! The negatives would be the fact that FMGs in the state of Louisiana have to complete 3 full years of training before they can get a Louisiana license; therefore, an FMG would not be able to moonlight (make the big $$$) until he/she is a 4th year resident. Once you are in the middle of your second year of this program, you will already be prepared to manage ANY thing that comes your way in terms of psychiatry pathology! They prepare you very well, very early. All I can say is that the Tulane Psychiatry program was a gold star residency training site in New Orleans; but this is what is was like for us residents prior to Hurricane Katrina flooding our city and damaging so many of our buildings we worked in. I imagine that once the Tulane residency returns, it wont be much different than what I experienced and described above. In fact, it could get better or improved!

Third Year of Psychiatry Residency: Harvard South Shore

In these photos (October 2007), I am in my office in Brockton, at the VA facility.

In our third year of residency, we psychiatrists now have our own offices, which are located in the VA (Veterans Affairs) building in Brockton, MA.

I have about 50 patients in my clinic that I treat on a regular basis; the conditions include Schizophrenia, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Bipolar disorder, Major Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and substance (drug & alcohol) dependence.

I really enjoy treating our American veterans at the VA, as they have given so much for our great country.

Despite our busy case-load in Psychiatry, we still find time to work even more (a.k.a. "moonlighting")! Yes, it is a titanic endeavor indeed; as we see our patients Monday-Friday from 8am to 4pm in our offices, then we drive to local hospitals/treatment facilities around Massachusetts to work there. We are able to do this since we now have earned our Full Licenses to practice medicine & psychiatry by the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Medicine; we have to carry malpractice insurance to do this, too. The upside of this, however, is the extra income; the pay/compensation can be quite lucrative for a 7pm-6am shift at an outside hospital...about $700. A few of these evening shifts each month, in addition to the salary we earn from the daytime, weekday job with the VA, can really contribute to paying down our medical school debts and the house mortgage! The average medical school loan/debt is $200,000, and most house mortgages are about $300,000. Hence, the initiative to work 2 jobs!

Nonetheless, despite the day time and night time jobs, we still hang-out and watch television at night (NetFlix) and go on weekend trips: Salem, MA to see the witch trials and haunted houses for Halloween; Cape Cod to visit Nantucket Island for a biking tour; and Providence, RI to visit Brown University .

Harvard South Shore Psychiatry Residency Training

Group photograph of the Harvard Psychiatry residents and faculty, Fall 2006.


Drs. Fe Festin, Ernesto Zilberberg, Avi Friedlich, Victor Vautrot, and Eleana Nickolskia. Spring 2006.



Drs. Victor Vautrot and Eleana Nickolskia. Spring 2006.







Since Hurricane Katrina forced me to leave Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana back in August 2005, I have since continued my residency training in Psychiatry at Harvard University near Boston, Massachussetts.

In the top right photograph, taken one morning of many of the residents in the Fall 2006, I am standing in the very back row, fourth individual from the left-hand-side, wearing a black shirt. My eyes are looking to my right, at my girlfriend in the row ahead of me.

There are about 8-9 residents in each of the 4 classes: psychiatry residency is a four-year training program.

As of July 2007, I will be a 3rd year resident, with one year remaining.

The field of psychiatry continues to be exciting and intersting; I take great pleasure in trying to bring mental wellness and safety to my patients struggling with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, panic disorder, major depression, and suicidal ideation.

Some Bodybuilding Photos

Here are a couple of photos I found of me in 2004 and 2005, the final 2 years of medical school, when I was working out in the evenings (Queens, NY) after my daytime rotations in Surgery, Ob/GYN, Pediatrics, etc.


Taken in my grandmother's backyard when I went to visit her after graduation from medical school, before residency started. I had been exercising previously in a gym in Queens, NY: nearly everynight with heavy, compound exercises (squats, deadlifts and bench presses).

Age 28.
2004.
4th year med. school.




Lifts included at that time:
Squat: 405 lbs x 8 reps
Deadlift: 405 lbs x 8 reps
Decline Bench Press: 355 lbs x 2 reps
Barbell curl: 135 lbs x 4 reps


Taken in my grandmother's front yard.

Age 28.
2004.
4th year med. school.





Miami, FL. I was a 3 rd year medical student at that time. Training in a gym near Coconut Grove, (South Beach), Florida.

Age 27.
2003.
3rd year med. school.


Cutting my birthday cake; celebrating it with my girlfriend and her yellow lab, Sita.

Age 27.
2003.
3rd yr. med. school.

Various photos of me from childhood to adulthood

Here I am at my house in Lafayette, LA, playing with some of our hunting dog's puppies (Queenie). She usually had one litter of 12 puppies per year, and we would give them (for free) to members of our hunting club; this would preserve the blood line with friends and family, rather than with distant strangers.













Family picture when I was a baby, in my mom's lap.













Hugging our hunting dog, Queenie. She was a very sweet black lab, loveable demeanor. She loved to have a tennis ball with her all of the time.














In 3rd/4th year of medical school, was doing Sports Medicine rotation at the time; living in the basement of a Greek guy named Nick in Queens, NY, paying about $800/month. I had a freakin' blow-up mattress for a "bed", chest-high refrigerator, half-broken gas stove, no windows to the outside, a stand-up only shower, and the floor collected water from somewhere every time there was a heavy rain outside. Nonetheless, it all worked out and I made it through med. school despite all of that stuff. Positive mental attitude.











Here is my Uncle Matt (Matt Bourque); he is a Circus Fan member...travels globally to view circuses (Europe, Asia, Mexico). He lives in Lafayette, LA presently.

This photo was taken the day of my grandmother's funeral (Dorothy Mathews, my dad's mom). Photo: from left to right: Victor, my Dad, Uncle Matt, and my brother. Grandma Dot died of natural causes in the mid-1990's after having suffered a stroke. She was a Registered Nurse for 52 years (retired at age 77), as well as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Confederacy, and a very proud Presbyterian church member (like myself). Her brother was my Uncle Robert.

Old Vautrot Family Photos

Here is a collection of some photos that I uncovered of some of my relatives:

Here, this is my grandmother Hermence Vidrine (maiden name) on horseback, next to my biological grandfather, Joe Johnson. He was a rancher (sheep and cattle) and farmer (cotton). He was what the women called "a man's man." He was rough, tough, and of few words. He actually killed a few men in his lifetime, in self-defense. One man, for example, had his guts spilled out by a knife after he jumped by grandfather outside a dance.

















This is my step-grand father, Luther Fontenot, of Pine Prairie, LA. He loved hunting quail and playing with his pet dogs. He died in the mid 1990's of natural causes.

















This is a photo of my great-grandmother, Ma-Ma (maternal side). She lived in Reddel, LA.
Her son, wearing the light blue shirt, standing to the far right of this photo, is Howard Vidrine: a Purple Heart recepient from World War II. He was also a renowned local Baptist minister in South Louisiana, and a church building is named for him. He died in the mid-1990s of natural causes.

This is with my older brothers Gabe and Philippe Vautrot when I was a baby. Gabe was killed in a drunk driving accident in November 1984. He was at LSU at the time of the tragedy.












Family photograph taken inside our home in Lafayette, LA. Gabe is wearing the grey suit and hat; Philippe is sitting in the middle; I am the baby on my mother's lap.

Photos from the Camp

Here is a collection of photos of my family and friends from our Hunting Camp in Mallard Bay, Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

Photo of my dad in the background, waving. My Uncle Robert Matthews in the forefront, holding a beer. He was an avid deer and turkey hunter in Missississippi and Louisiana. He had a camp in Butte LaRose, LA; was a very popular, likeable guy. He was also a WWII veteran. He died of natural causes in his sleep in the mid-1990s.



Here I am with my dad (far left of photo), being held by Uncle Robert. I am holding a large mouth Bass, crying. Notice the catfish hanging on the wooden plank in the middle of the photo. This was a common way that we (later, when I learned how to do it) skinned our catfish: nail them to a tree or hang them from a hook, make 3 knife slices around their neck to expose the flesh beneath the tough skin, then use "skinning pliers" to peel the skin off of them. There is someone unknown to me skinning/cleaning some fish on the table to the far right. This was at our hunting and fishing camp in South Louisiana in very early 1980s.







A photo of our beloved hunting/fishing camp from the other side of the canal. Notice the dog. The large rusty container is the well (holding rain water). The camp itself is made of Cypress wood, about 60 years-old. This camp survived both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in Summer 2005.








Here I am, about 5 years old, inside my dad's fishing boat. We are raising crab traps from Mallard Bay (a very large lake in Southwest Louisiana). As you can see, there are a few Blue Pointe crabs in the trap immediatly behind me.
I was probably learning how to re-bait the traps (with fish guts and heads).













This is my Uncle Robert, later in his life; here he is in front of a lake and mountain range somewhere in America. He loved going for overland tours of praries and ranges across America, in search of deer, bison, Caribou, etc...to take pictures. He always had a cigar in his mouth, but he never smoked it. I am indebted to him for great memories of Turkey Hunts in Missississippi; delicous meals at his camp in Butte La Rose, LA; and the trust fund he left me to help pay for medical school.