Return of the Peros

Jim Peros, UVM IM resident alum - class of 2007, surprised us with an impromtu visit. It was nice to see a familiar face and someone who helped shape this middle manager's residency education.

He is currently working as a hospitalist at the:

Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center. Click to see his Jim's KP homepage and a description of his hospital.

Jim describes a large part of his community to be an immigrant Filipino population.

His fav procedure is the thoracentesis.

His schedule consists of 10 to 12 weeks blocks, in which he works an average of 40 hours per week / 10-12 weeks. This includes:

• 6 weeks of inpatient rounding/discharging


• 2 weeks of solely admitting inpatients


• 4 weekends are worked during the 10-12 week block


• 1 week of working nights - where he triages in the ER (ICU vs general wards), crosscovers inpatients


• 2 weeks off

When asked how he felt about the "real world" after residency, he reported feeling:

"Well prepared and comfortable to deal with any crazy situation...I've encountered a lot of crazy situations"

Hope you're well Jim.

Lock n Load

Note: the following stories, and quotes may or may not be true....

Recently residents, medical staff, and significant others came together with a common goal. What cause was so important to bring such a group together? World peace perhaps? Maybe strategies to reduce our carbon footprint? Close... It was for the ability to harness compressed air and simulate warfare with the Colchester Paint Ball group. Like anything in VT, it proved to be a very organic experience...



Above, Group Shot-
Top, left to right: Armin, Pierre, Dave, Phill, JC, Suraiya, Sahir, Perki, Lynda
Bottom kneeling Left to right: Jen, Maruf, Axel, Shalini



The day began early...Phill "Warrior" Anderson III, cardiology fellow by day...and night, who provided inspiration for the outing, walked into the compound silently and confidently. Upon entrance, he kneeled to the ground, ran scoops of clay soil through his hands and muttered, "I love the smell of vegetable oil based polymer in the mornings..." He then got up with purpose and carefully wrote down all our names in a small paint soaked black book, labelled 'Martyrs'. After coldly staring into each participant's eyes of his victims lives. He then assumed the yogi position and awaited to become one with the paint...

Upper Level Medicine Resident Lynda "10 Cane" Tilluckdharry also came prepared for battle. When asked what her game plan was, she politely yet sternly stated:

"I wore fluorescent pink today because I'm that good....It's also in honor of the 'Where's Waldo Book Series' and the Trinidadian Army"


The group was divided into two. With the lines drawn, everyone geared up at base camp, with 3000 psi of compressed air, trigger fingers and dreams of bruising. Multiple battles, proctored by the wonderful folks at Colchester Paintball, ensued as the morning went on.

Interventional cardiologist, Perki "Call of Duty" Gogo, had one the higher kill counts. He commented on the fact that paintball reminded him of being in a video game. "My love for video games is the reason why I went into interventional cardiology" He said, "I like fake shooting fake people almost as much as I like shooting the cors ..."

One of the highlights was a simulated all out Spartan inspired run-through attack on one of the pine ridden battlefields. FP attending, Sahir "tofu tornado" Patel led the attack and nearly raised the winning flag. Unfortunately, the attack was more Lemming like than Spartanesque and the opposing team eventually regrouped and painted liberally...There was also unfortunate friendly fire: Sorry Perki....

Representing the surgical specialties, Armin "10 blade" Kiankhooy and Dave "Faceoff"Gawlik worked well together to get a high paint/kill count. It was almost as though they choreographed their maneuvers. When asked how they came to be so in sync with each other, Armin replied:

"Our success comes from working extremely long hours mimicking prime time TV sensation 'Dancing with the Stars'. We practice at home or in the OR....occasionally with tan unitards".

Promptly after Armin's statement, Dave blurted, "You've said too much!" and shot Armin closer than the allowed 20 foot minimum distance.

Anesthesiology resident, Jen "Dream Killer" Hay was calm and collected as usual. Though it was her first time in the trenches, she was usually one of the few remaining at the end of battle. When asked about her experience Jen replied, "I'm not sure if I like all this kneeling and crouching...I prefer aerosolized warfare...its much more efficient."

Pierre "Je me souviens" Znojkiewicz, Cardiology Fellow and Montreal Canadiens fanatic, looked for inspiration. Despite having techno and red bull coursing through his veins, he could not decide to do it for his country or his team. Helped by his trusty Québécois sympathizer - JC - they decided to put the Quebec flag on their victims faces. They then forgot to do it midway through the battles, techno still blazing....

Axel "stor våpen"Bendiksby was one of the first to inflict bruises secondary to his incredibly efficient infiltration tactics. The viking commented on his success by saying, "I trained in the Norwegian army...those UN missions really prepared me for this...."

Medicine Intern, Shalini "Red Ninjal" Jha, was just happy to be somewhere other than Baird 4 (our fav Medicine Ward) . It should be noted that she deserves the "Coolest Intern to come to Paintball" award as she was the only intern present. I guess most of the interns don't want to simulate warfare or cause any pain to their residents. It supports the idea that Vermont residents are nice (except Shalini's resident)

At the end of the day, the entire group now one with the earth and paint walked off into the horizon. They celebrated with beer, chicken wings and nachos at a local establishment. I believe world peace and carbon footprints was discussed for at least a few minutes

You down with ACP?

Oct 24th was our local Vermont Chapter American College of Physicians meeting (ACP) in Stowe, VT at the Von Trapp Family Lodge (yes they're real - click the link to determine if Maria looks like Julie Andrews). The hills were alive with the sound of poster and oral presentations. There were a total of 8 accepted Resident Poster Clinical Vignettes, 2 Resident Oral Presentations, and 3 Medical Student Posters. Our hard working residents were given time off their respective services to flex their academic prowess. Congratulations to our two winners (pictured below) :

Resident Poster winner: Nathaniel Price (Can I get a 3-peat?)

Resident Oral Presentation winner: Mia Hockett

Resident Participants: Chad Mitchell, Phil Skidd, Nate Thompson, Nick Lim, Alison Jaquith, Emily Anderson, Ellie Mueller, Natalie Sinclair

Nathaniel and Mia will be representing UVM at the National ACP meeting in Philadelphia at the end of the year. However, one could argue, that everyone was a winner: they all witnessed Attending /Assistant Program Director Mark Pasanen sporting a tie and sports coat for the first time in their known residency career ( he is also pictured above introspecting on the "Rock of Maria"in the background of foliage).

(Mia giving a thumbs up and Nathaniel giving the "why are you taking my picture again" pose)

Hope you're well Lena

Dear Lena,

Now that you've been around for almost a month, we were wondering how your parents were doing? Your mom takes her time, meticulously analyzing patient history and data to synthesize a perfect patient care plan. It is only appropriate that you took your time (22+ hours) to descend into our world. Let us assure you that you made the right decision. When all 6lbs 10oz of you saw your beaming parents on Friday October 10th @ 2131 we can only imagine your happiness.

We trust that you are having a blast and still sleeping during the days and bringing in the "Noyes" at night. It is very considerate of you to recognize and try to simulate your mom and dad's "love" for overnight call and night float. At 3am you should say "hi" to your parents for us and tell them that we miss them.

Goo goo, ga ga and all that jazz.

UVM IM congratulate Mike and Cindy Noyes on their beautiful baby girl: Elena Noyes.

It probably should not be called maternity leave, but q24hr call.