First Day

Today was my first day volunteering with the San Jose Clinic. I worked from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. Since I previously worked in a family practice and have some experience, they let me spend the morning taking vitals of all the patients.

As Sam predicted, Wednesday was a lot slower than what I observed on Monday, and parking was not an issue for me this morning. I arrived and signed in, and she took a picture of me for my ID. She then let me follow a Sister around learning about the basic run of things. I spent most of my time in the prep room taking height, weight, temperature, bp, and pulse.

They have a primarily Hispanic patient demographic who often speak very little English. I have a basic knowledge of Spanish, but I could use a refresher for more medically focused Spanish. Though not an infectious disease, the most prevalent condition amongst patients is Diabetes. Often they are there to see a podiatrist.

When I worked in the family practice, the most common condition proved to be gout, also known as the "rich man's disease" since rich foods and alcohols cause a buildup of uric acid in the joints, causing the pain and swelling of gout. In this underserved clinic, this proves the opposite case since most are diabetic or have high blood pressure and are taking many different medications.

I still have not heard back from Legacy, so I'll need to try and contact them again. I would like to volunteer at Legacy on Mondays and San Jose on Wednesdays. So far, I am really enjoying my experience and learning a lot about the lower end of the health care spectrum. I cannot wait to go back next week and volunteer again.