Global Health Needs to Provide Mental Care to Marginalized Population

Wide reaching, nurses significantly outnumbered physicians as providers of health care often having utmost vast reach remoteness to underserved communities. Having personally lived in one of the underserved communities in my hometown Western Africa before moving to the United States of America and my life calling to be a nurse from a young age with the deep desire to make a difference. I plan to contribute and continue to contribute immensely to the underserved communities by delivering quality health care to remote regions around the world. I do volunteer service at several clinics in the Atlanta area with many well-known Emory physicians that care for homeless and underserved populations, these volunteer experiences provide me with opportunities and fulfillment to develop added headship skill and experience to meet my daily patients, needs.

During the last three years, I have completed 488 hours in two child life departments interacting with children and families in the hospital setting. At the same time, I kept the quality of my academic standing high (GPA 4.0 at Ozarks Technical Community College and GPA 3.88 at Missouri State University). I am currently a child life practicum student at CoxHealth Dee Ann White Women’s and Children’s Hospital. My duties include planning and implementing developmentally appropriate and therapeutic activities, such as origami, scavenger hunts, and medical play to promote physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development for patients. I can independently interact with and introduce child life services to patients and families in Pediatrics

My personal experience gives me emotional strength and purpose to serve the vulnerable sections of society through pediatric health care. Growing up in a remote town in

In my community many people do not understand the struggles of kids with serious illnesses and the financial and mental toll it has in the parents. To have more understanding of the problem I encourage people to volunteer at hospitals to gain more knowledge about the problem.

The experience taught me to work hard to achieve my goal of becoming a doctor and helping as many people as I can. It taught me not to waste my time. All of my dedication has pushed me to be the best person I can be so in the future I can feel confident about all of my choices. Volunteering at Children’s Hospital offered me an experience that pushed me to strive for no less than excellence. By volunteering, I watched my dreams and ambitions get closer, and although the process is a slow and difficult one, every second of it was worth it because I was able to watch everything I value become

Through my compassion, responsibility, and teamwork I will be able to leave a positive impact on the patients, staff, and parents that visit this facility. Although I may only be a high school student volunteering a few hours a week at this local hospital and I may not be handing a scalpel to a doctor, what I do has the power to bring a smile to someone's day. This opportunity to make their experience better is definitely worthwhile. To conclude, I would also like to thank the Plano Presbyterian Volunteer Services coordinators and directors for providing this great opportunity for High School students like myself who are exploring the medical

To explain briefly, spending the entire summer around the kids, staff, nurses, doctors, and hospital administration, I could see everyone there loved their jobs, appreciated their coworkers, and most importantly, valued the patients and their families. Volunteering this past summer was a life-changing experience that only motivated me to find more opportunities to grow and experience the medical

According to SIM, various social determinants of health can dictate the presentation and severity of the patient’s illness. The main challenge in delivering effective care of refugee mental health is the complexity and the multi-factorial nature of their suffering. A refugee is identified as someone who was forced to flee his or her country due to traumatic factors such as war, persecution, violence and racism (Moussalli M., 1992). The exposure to these factors instills an overwhelming feeling of fear, submissiveness and vulnerability. As a result, refugees can be at a higher risk of developing debilitating psychological conditions such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety (McKenzie et al., 2010). On the other hand,

I always knew I want to work with pediatric population. During my clinical rotations, I always requested to work with pediatric patients if available. Unfortunately, my nursing instructor who understood this passion and extracurricular activities passed away shortly before graduation. However, that adds to motivation to help continue to help children and their communities. In the first month of clinical rotation at Seattle Children’s, there was a patient’s family who was getting frustrated. After

As I was finishing my last shift as a Health Leads advocate at Boston Medical Center I couldn’t help but think back to my first shift three years earlier. I was nineteen years old walking into the Pediatric Unit eager to make a difference. Being located in a poverty-stricken part of Boston many uninsured and low-income families would bring their children to Boston Medical Center. As an advocate, it was our responsibility to make sure they had everything they needed from food to shelter while working hand in hand with their physician. I expected to reaffirm my desire to become a physician by witnessing all the positive work that can be accomplished. What actually happened was something quite different, something that made me wonder, “Do I really want to go into medicine?”

Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre provided me with life lessons I will never forget—kindness and humbleness. Spending my free time in this facility has given me bliss. The patients became my family; I knew their families, their kids, and even their grand-kids. I spent hours getting to know these patients—their stories, their likes, their dislikes. It was refreshing to do their errands, to help them, to feed them, to care for them. At this hospital I learned more than what the doctors and nurses do. I learned more than the mechanics of a hospital. I learned about the patients. I learned what I want to do in life. I learned that eventually I would like to become a medical doctor—to combine my love of biology and assisting

As a future alumna, I will advance the mission of Mercy College by delivering health care services as a PA to under-served urban populations with compassion and sensitivity. Being raised in an under-served community and being a premed student in Harlem, NY, I understand the challenges of being a healthcare professional in the United States. In addition, being in a diverse environment have augmented my studies in public health, and have provided me with concrete examples of how individuals can benefit from caring, sensitive providers, and how communities suffer when adequate health care services are not available or affordable. I believe as a future student at Mercy College, I will be fortunate enough to learn about the social responsibility

For the past two weeks I have been performing my clinical at Holton Community Hospital experiencing what it is like to be on the floor with the patients and I had the opportunity to see what it was like in the Family Practice part of the hospital.

My decision to volunteer at Gloucester-Mathews Free Clinic was primarily motivated by curiosity. There are seven medical professionals in my family, and I wanted to explore the possibility of pursuing a similar career path. The experience provided an opportunity to learn that I do not want to go into medicine, but more importantly, it made me reevaluate the way I think of healthcare.

My son is my strength, my world, my light at the end and beginning of every dark tunnel. The love for my son reminds me to fly above anything not pleasing to God’s eyes and to reach beyond the stars. I have embraced being a single mother by teaching him the value and importance of education and a rock-solid faith in God. As a former Star of Hope shelter member and advocate, I understand the feeling of anguish, despair, and hopelessness, as well as a commitment to ensuring that families who are coping with such tragedies, especially illness, are getting the best quality of care. While volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House in Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, I was captivated by the personalized, special care that was provided not only