It’s less than 3 weeks until our next main meeting at the Sotonettes – for those who missed our announcement at the Southampton Common picnic, September’s meeting will be entitled ‘Life Skills’ (or perhaps more appropriately, all those things you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask)!

We’ve got three inspirational women lined up to talk you through their careers as mechanics, plumbers and doctors while passing on some handy hints along the way.  They will also be on hand to answer any of your questions (about their fields of knowledge only!) – here’s your chance to find out what you need to keep an eye on when you’re checking over your car, how to fix that leaky tap or what to do when you need some quick first aid…

Each week we’ll post a little bit about one of our speakers.  If you’ve got a question you’d like to ask or a topic you think other Sotonettes would benefit from being discussed, let us know.  You can tweet us @Sotonettes, message us (publicly or privately) on Facebook or drop us an email.

Our first lady is Katie – you’ll recognise her as a Sotonettes Committee Member but when she’s not socialising with us, she works in Portsmouth as an A&E doctor.

“I have been a doctor for 7 years, 5 of those training in emergency medicine (A&E).  Despite the fact that over half of medical students are now female, 2 or 3 times a shift I still get “Thank you, nurse” as I leave – despite introducing myself as a doctor, having a name badge and wearing a different uniform to the nurses!  It’s not just the older patients either, so I’m not sure things will change very soon!

I became a doctor after my mum died when I was younger – I was determined to do a better job in communicating than those doctors, and I hope I do.  I love emergency medicine, you have to to cope with what we go through – long hours, emotionally challenging patients, a very real risk of assault, never knowing what will come in next – but I can’t imagine doing anything else.  The most vital part of any A&E is the teamwork.  There is no way I could do my job without the nurses, healthcare assistants, radiographers, porters, receptionists and security guards.  We are a little family, and I’ve made some of my best friends working in that environment!

As well as my normal job, I also do event medicine – I have been the doctor for an event where the Dalai Lama was speaking, next week I am working at Bestival and I hope to help Coppafeel (who came to talk at our breast cancer meeting) in a professional capacity in the future.

At the next meeting, I plan to let you know some ‘tricks of the trade’ – I will talk through how to do chest compressions, what to do with a burn, when you need to worry about cystitis and anything else you want to know.  Pretty much nothing embarrasses me or gores me out, so feel free to ask away, anonymously if you want!”

It’s already been a week since our adventure at Southampton Common!  If anyone would like to go on another batwalk (perhaps bring along some of your friends/family/men who missed out last time), the Hawthorn Centre are running their own Batwalk this Saturday 7th September at 7pm.  It looks like it will be a nice evening with good weather and the £5 entry fee gets you a burger or hot dog too!  More information can be found here.