Solo Clinic: I ran downtown clinic all by myself! It's pretty exciting. I was in charge of EVERYTHING: orienting a new doctor, helping people find supplies in our "clinic in a box" that we use because the clinic is borrowed space, filling in for as an interpreter (for a rectal exam - that was fun), making sure everything ran smoothly, that all the patients that were supposed to be seen got seen, dealing with walk-ins and making sure everything got put away correctly at the end of the night. I'm a real clinic manager :)
Shadowing: On MLK day I got to shadow our Medical Director for morning round up at the VA. I showed up at the Hospital while it was still dark, just before 7 AM, and spend a few hours walking around with two medical students, three residents, another Pre-med girl also shadowing, and Dr. Reuler watching the students and residents present on the patients that had been admitted over night. Not only was it a really interesting experience, the VA is up on "The Hill" with OHSU and I got to watch the sunrise over Mt. Hood. It was AMAZING - such a beautiful sunrise from the perfect vantage point. It was the first sunny day in about a week and was the perfect start to the week.
LPAC and Social Justice: So social justice has been on my mind a lot recently - sparked by our Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Party conversations, through talks during our Area Director visit, and with our upcoming retreat focused on social justice this weekend. I got to really be a part of it during our recent Latino Patient Advisory Council (LPAC). Wallace has received a grant to evaluate the needs of the east county community and determine whether or not we should expand and become a Federally Qualified Heath Center (FQHC). Any who, part of this process is focus groups with the community to discuss what the actual needs of the community are. So we had a few people from the county lead this focus group with out Latino Patients at our LPAC meeting. We discussed what a "healthy community" looks like, what are current barriers to having a healthy community, what are the needs of the community, and how can Wallace help to provide for those needs.
I was so affected by what was said. For one, the room was pretty evenly split male and female, and everyone participated equally, which was not expected. They shared their concerns about lack or resources and communication about resources, how hard it is to be latino and the discrimination they receive in the work place. Worrying about proving themselves and being strong, but how can you be strong physically or mentally when you don't have enough food to feed your family? One woman was talking about being in debt for life to the hospital because she had to have an emergency surgery and there was nothing she could do about it, but then another couple chimed in about financial assistance programs at hospitals. There is not enough communication about the resources available. And then just coming to a new country and not understanding the laws and customs is so difficult. They expressed frustration with their own latino community that doesn't take responsibility for their own health and well being, and the sense of competition between neighbors that inhibits the communication flow.
For me to be one of only two white women, a person of supposed privilege, in the room of 20 latinos, I felt so honored to be a part of this discussion. I can say that latinos are disriminated against and not completely understand what that means, but having heard about their struggles from their own lips, it is more real than I could imagine. It must have been so empowering for them to be given a space to voice their concerns and actually be heard and listened to; to even be asked these questions and have their thoughts truly valued. That's really the first step: to give people space to be heard and validated, then take the things they sat and take action. And I really do get to be a part of solution. It's a pretty incredible feeing.
No comments:
Post a Comment