February reflections

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Community service hours from 12/6 – 3/1: 32 hours

This February my main focus has been working on my application for medical school. I compiled a list of over 50 different secondary application essay prompts and I have been hard at work brainstorming what I want to write about. Regardless of the prompt, my brainstorming always brings me back to my motivation for pursuing a career in medicine- my desire to serve my community. 

I recently attended an info session for Duke and one of their deans proclaimed "medicine is a service industry". That really resonated with me and reaffirmed my belief that I will be able to serve my community as a physician. For the past three years I have lived and worked in underserved communities that do not have enough access to health care. I regularly interact with people who need medical care but cannot afford it. 

Earlier this year I saw a car with the passenger door open and a man slumped over in the passengers seat. He had on only one shoe and he looked like he was either asleep, passed out, or dead. I knocked on the hood of the car until he sat up. I asked him if he was okay and if he needed medical attention. He pointed at his leg and I saw that his foot and ankle were incredibly swollen. He told me that his feet were swollen and that he was in the process of taking his shoes off when he fell asleep. I looked at his foot and asked him some basic questions to try to figure out if he was suffering from peripheral edema or some sort of injury. He told me that he had diabetes but had not taken his metformin in over two weeks because he could no longer afford it. I urged him to see a doctor but he told me that he could not afford it. I searched on google to try to find a free clinic but unfortunately there were none nearby. I ended up convincing him to go to the emergency room and I gave him instructions for how he could get there by street car. It has been months since this occurred but I still look out for this man and wonder if he ever got the care that he needed.

This experience, along with numerous others, has instilled in me an unflinching drive to serve as a physician in communities with little access to health care.

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