Reflection

I did not volunteer this week because something came up on Wednesday morning, the time I usually go to San Jose Clinic. However, I have thought quite a bit about my time there and posed some difficult questions to myself that really do not have an answer.

How do you cope with being in the situation of not having health care yet still having to take care of a growing family? What would you do if there was no such institution as the San Jose Clinic? How do you feel once you are able to have health insurance and no longer need to go to an underserved facility?

These are often the tougher aspects of society and being a medical professional that you do not think about upon first working to become a doctor. It has been truly an eye-opening experience working there these past few weeks. Every patient is incredibly grateful to see the doctor and has been unfailingly polite and kind to me, just a college volunteer.

Having worked in a family practice and a plastic surgery clinic, the patients at San Jose are much more patient and understanding than patients at the "regular" clinics who so often complain about the slightest inconveniences. People so easily take for granted their situation in life and never take a step back to see just how much they have. Doctors say they want to help people, but they are spoiled commonly by the upper echelons of health care and patients. They forget about the lower percentiles of the economic bracket because they become so self-involved in their microcosm of experience.

This may come off as a bit of a self-righteous rant, but it still proves true nonetheless. Working at the San Jose Clinic has made me thankful for all the advantages I have been given in life and the ability to see the opposite end of the health care spectrum. I truly enjoy having this assignment for class because it is a real life-learning experience.