NHSC Scholarship Identification Report

Now in the United States, I have had many opportunities to help communities by volunteering and working in hospital, churches, and colleges in hopes of creating small changes in the lives of people. I would like to work with individuals in hospitals and clinics, including those in medically underserved communities, to provide them with quality medical care. My aim is to help people

I am Song V Thao. I am interested in the VA Post Baccalaureate Nurse Residency Trainee Program because I am ambitious to make a real difference and a positive change to people’s lives, especially those who have served for our country. I was born and raised in a refugee camp in Thailand, a crowded place where many refugees lived in poverty without quality healthcare. Growing up as a Hmong woman, I have raised my children through both Hmong traditional healing practices and the western healthcare system. I learned that our society lacks healthcare professionals who would understand both the western healthcare system, and other traditional healing systems. In my community, many people have different perspectives on the western medical practices,

During the time I have spent on this new journey, I have met people from multiple schools and different cultures with different levels of training and career goals, but ultimately, all of which have a common desire to serve the patients – something I have found enriching in my

This passion was realized during my last few months volunteering at the Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH). At TCH, I was able to experience, in detail, provider to patient care. Because of the connection that I felt with patients, I would like to become a powerful advocate, promoting good health, helping to prevent diseases, and educating the public about important health issues and how nurses positively impact this environment.

Growing up, I felt powerless of not having the ways and means of providing to impoverished. The people that needed the most but they did not have the same advantages as to the people who had a good socio-economic background. It is very heartbreaking to see how money plays a key factor to save someone’s life. Therefore, I knew that my duty was to provide some type of assistance and fight to become a spokesperson of people like myself. Moreover, I feel like this is an encouraging cause for me because it makes me think about how helpful my services will be after I become an Emergency Physician.

As a member of the Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, I plan to contribute to the student body through the addition of my experiences in navigating through adversity, along with my work with the underserved.

I am pursuing a career in nursing because I have a strong ambition to provide exceptional healthcare to individuals within rural communities who lack access to adequate healthcare resources and information. The scarcity of healthcare professionals within rural communities, in the U.S. and abroad, continues to nourish instead of eliminate health disparities. My diverse understanding of this issue is due to my undergraduate studies in Kinesiology combined with my own personal and professional experiences within various healthcare settings in the U.S. and Jamaica. As a nurse, I plan to educate unprivileged communities and ensure that all patients and families receive the highest quality of healthcare services in a caring and compassionate atmosphere.

After completing the MBA program at St. John Fisher, I hope to be working in the administrative field in the Rochester area hospitals or a privately-owned healthcare company. One of my main goals as an individual in the healthcare field includes making the best possible environment for the patients and for the employees while continuing to bring diversity within. Poverty is defined as the state of being extremely poor. Unfortunately, this is something that continues to be a large issue across the country and is very prominent in our own neighborhood. Among individuals who are living in poverty and those who are considered middle class, they all hold something in common; the need for healthcare. My goal as a healthcare provider will be to offer

Three years ago I had the privilege of working with an organization connected with Duke University Hospital called the House of Healing. The House of Healing at Duke University provides visiting families with a fully equipped hospitality suite on hospital grounds, meals, and various volunteer services to make their stay as comfortable and stress-free as possible. It offers assistance to patients and their families who come from all over the world to the internationally renowned hospital. The uniqueness of the organization was what made it so very special to work for was that it was specifically geared for the under deserved community, and not just the community living in the Durham, NC area, but for people worldwide. Being that Duke University has many of the best doctors and one of the country’s largest transplant center, people take the long journey from wherever they live, to get the treatment they need. Many of these families drop whatever they are doing, whether that is a job, business or family and arrive at Duke hoping for healing. Finances are always a struggle. Treatments can be a fortune, travel is expensive and hotel stays for an unknown time can be astronomical. That is where the House of Healing assists. My position was the visitor coordinator. We provide financial and emotional help to these families who have so much on their plate already, which we try to unburden them with free stay, food and

I hope to be involved in improving how health care is delivered by identifying weaknesses in our current system and taking the initiative to improve them. As a medical student health advocate for a clinic at Lankenau Hospital, I learned to identify and address some of the non-medical barriers to health that patients experience. Learning that issues such as childcare responsibilities, education level, lack of transportation, and financial difficulties truly impede the ability for many to obtain adequate health care was eye opening and further reinforced my drive to help the

I believe that I possess important attributes that will not only further the Saint Louis University (SLU) School of Medicine mission, but also bring diversity to the campus. Inequality in both availability and quality of health care is an issue which I place great emphasis on. Having spent a week in Panama providing clinical services, I have witnessed firsthand the discrepancies in care that exist between urban centers and rural areas and rich and poor economies. Of particular concern to me is the lack of education and knowledge regarding healthy habits and lifestyles in these communities. This is something that we as prospective health care professionals can change, and I plan to focus heavily on these issues as an aspiring medical student

CMSRU’s commitment to providing excellent patient care and service to every community resonates with my personal aspirations and principles in delegating resources to every community equally, which is in fact my primary motive to pursue medicine.

I will be soon celebrating my thirty-sixth birthday and still confronted with the same familiar questions I keep asking myself: "have I contributed to a positive change in people's lives or have I have lent them my ears when they feel traumatized with their problems?" Asking myself these questions is what has sparked a growing interest in the field-of-healthcare. For me, to pursue a career in healthcare will be a life fulfilling moment. Not only would I be opened to endless opportunities to specialize in the field of my interest, the prospect of working with others to give excellent health care will be

In contrary to the “traditional” narrative, my aspirations of being a future healthcare provider did not start during childhood. I remember at the tender age of seven and bearing witness to the severe pain that radiated throughout my father’s body due to the movement of kidney stones. That experience, now looking back, instilled a sense of fear in me that lead to the avoidance of any career exploration or opportunity related to healthcare. It was not until college after better comprehending the healthcare system and learning about its inner workings that I began to develop my passion around social change and creating more equitable outcomes in terms of effective patient care and practices. Although, I am unsure as to what role and or, the function

I have had the unique opportunity to learn about the healthcare experiences of medically underserved communities. When I volunteered at free clinics, I noticed that rural populations did not have access to appropriate healthcare services. Our patients were primarily from the local Latino and African American community, and I saw how certain health conditions (e.g., diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, etc.) disproportionately impacted these patients. The lack of appropriate medical care was what contributed to these disparities, but I realized that we could promote health and wellness through patient education and community outreach. As a medical student at Saint Louis University, I hope to volunteer at the Health Resource Center, where I can provide medical care to local residents. I also wish to educate people about healthy lifestyle behaviors. From my perspective, empowering patients through health education is especially important because it encourages them to actively participate in their health care. These efforts would ultimately help bridge the gap between healthcare and health