Another Year, Another Service Learning Assignment

Last spring, I volunteered at the San Jose Clinic downtown as part of the service-learning assignment for Dr. Larios' medical microbiology class. Going into it, I had no idea just how much I would garner throughout the process.

In the time I spent there, I learned a great deal about the low-income, uninsured aspects of health care. Growing up in a privileged environment catering toward the upper societal echelons of medicine, it was needless to say an eye-opening experience.

The health professionals and patients I encountered at San Jose were by far some of the most grateful and accommodating individuals with the gentlest spirits. Despite being a college student newly thrown into this environment, everyone welcomed me with an open mind toward teaching about what it takes to run an underserved clinic.

I mostly spent my volunteering hours doing triage and vitals, but the patient interaction that comes with such responsibilities taught me invaluable lessons about people and the logistics of health care. It also was a great asset for improving my medical Spanish, just in time for a medical mission trip in El Salvador and a summer internship with a medical oncologist serving primarily Spanish speaking patients this past summer. At the end of Spring 2009, I also partook in San Jose Clinic's annual Art with Heart fundraiser, which was the first time I ever participated in an art auction.

Speaking of my medical mission trip in El Salvador, now that I have seen what completely rural health care is like, it makes me greatly appreciate the modern conveniences even San Jose Clinic has. Compared to the FIMRC clinic in Las Delicias, San Jose is blessed with regard to resources and health professionals on hand. The FIMRC clinic only had one doctor for all the patients in the community while San Jose staffs specialists ranging from cardiologists and dermatologists to dentists and optometrists. That's merely the beginning of where the FIMRC clinic lacks in supplies and services.

I fully intend to continue volunteering at San Jose Clinic this semester and truly look forward to what else I can learn from them. This looks to be quite an exciting and busy end to my college education!

Finishing the Service-Learning

I emailed Sam to email my volunteer hours directly, saving the trouble of printing out the form and going to the clinic to get it signed.

This semester has just flown by, and I can't believe the Med Micro final is in a week. The service learning aspect of the course has by far been one of the most interesting parts of my college education to date. I feel like I am leaving the course not only with new knowledge about diseases relevant to everyday life but also with knowledge about health care at an underserved clinic.

New experiences and realizations I gained this semester range from volunteering at Art with Heart to learning the greater necessity of medical profession Spanish. I need to learn some more working Spanish before I go to El Salvador in order to ease the experience there.

Overall, this service-learning experience has been well worth the effort and should definitely be continued in the future.

Swine Flu

Panic about Swine Flu is setting in as schools close around Houston, and weekend events are being canceled. One girl at Episcopal High School in Bellaire was diagnosed with Swine Flu, but she has been treated and fully recovered. The one toddler who died due to Swine Flu apparently spent the day at the Galleria the day before he started showing symptoms of Swine Flu. This caused local news outlets to react with their usual scare tactics, causing pandemonium in communities.

Education Rainbow Challenge is a major event that occurs once in the fall and once in the spring where elementary and middle school children compete in math and science competitions. The American Chemical Society always volunteers at the event and show chemistry demonstrations for the kids and parents. However, due to this Swine Flu scare, the event has been canceled. This is such a shame since approximately 600 children attend the event, and UST always brings about 60 - 90 volunteers.

I have been paying close attention to reports on Swine Flu, reading emails from the embassy in El Salvador about the situation there. As of right now, there are no reports of Swine Flu in El Salvador, but I am slightly worried about traveling for the medical mission trip in two weeks. Stay tuned to find out any updates!

Art with Heart

Last night was the 3rd annual Art with Heart fundraiser for San Jose Clinic. I arrived at 4:30p.m. to volunteer, and I ended up learning how to use the electronic tablets used for the art auction. I would be working the tables throughout the night to help people make bids on items.

I was on my feet all evening as people came up to me asking for help, placing bids, and checking on the status of bids already placed. I absolutely loved a painting titled "Rose" and was actually interested in bidding on it myself. It ended up going for $240 at the end of the night. Overall, the event raised almost $70,000. Personally, I thought they would've raised more, but there was a lot of art that went unsold at the end of the night, which was slightly sad.

The Cardinal showed up, and they had a live auction of his portrait, which went for $5000. The man who won it ended up donating the portrait to San Jose, so that was a really touching moment. Matress Mac of Gallery Furniture was actually the speaker for the live auction, and he was very funny.

I am really glad I got to be a part of Art with Heart as both a volunteer from San Jose and a volunteer from Tri-Beta. I met a lot of great people, saw workers from the clinic outside of the professional setting, and got to see local artists who actually put their work into the auction. It was a different experience, and I'll be interested in coming next year as either a volunteer or bidder.

Art for Heart

Sam Sherman came to UST yesterday at noon to train volunteers on using electronic tablets for the auction fundraiser to be held on Saturday, April 25th. Tri-Beta members will he helping with the auctioning and food running. It is our major volunteer event for this spring semester.

I was unable to make the training session yesterday because I had to go to the Children's Museum for the ACS Earth Day event, but I will be on the food station at Art for Heart. I look forward to helping out with this fundraising event for such a good and deserving clinic.

Easter Holiday

San Jose was closed for the Easter Holiday, so I was not able to volunteer this week either. However, I will be more involved in the coming weeks since Tri-Beta is working with San Jose for their Art with Heart fundraiser. Now that I'm familiar with the place, I am excited to help in any way I can.

The global economic recession has really hit home for me lately and made me realize just how much the health care industry is affected by it. My mother owns her own plastic surgery clinic, but with the down economy, people are not coming in for elective surgery. Patients cannot afford unnecessary surgery or time off from work, and this has really hit the company hard.

Plastic and cosmetic surgery runs under differing circumstances compared to health care covered by insurance and extremely differently than a place like San Jose. Events lately have me really looking at the logistics behind organizations and how things are really run from a financial aspect. This is the side of health care people do not see.

Anyways, happy Easter!

My Own Health

It was a long week, and I had a lot of personal things going on which meant I could not make it to San Jose this week. It's a long story, interesting yet irrelevant to this blog. However, I definitely plan on volunteering this coming week.

My time at San Jose has been really eye-opening, and I'm truly glad that I had the opportunity to volunteer there this semester. What began as a service learning assignment for Medical Microbiology turned into an enjoyable and highly informative real-life experience in a different aspect of the medical field.

No matter what emotional things happen in my life, it all seems so trivial to the realities of low-income health care. I feel lucky to have been given so much in my life, and I do not plan on taking it for granted. If anything, I am lucky to have health insurance and not be burdened by the possibilities of outrageous health care bills should an emergency occur.

Comparing my parents' plastic surgery clinic to something like San Jose, the two are drastically different in the way they are run, and each has their own unique good and bad aspects. My mother recently talked to me about our business, and the economy has hit it hard. People just do not have the income anymore to have as much voluntary plastic surgery. An underserved clinic like San Jose, however, is always in need because they provide primary care necessary for maintaining basic health.

Easter break is almost here, and I will have more time not only to volunteer but also contemplate on a lot of things about San Jose, medicine, and life in general.