Narrative Out Of Health Care

I was looking in my mirror at the red and blue flashing lights. My stomach dropped and I was scared about what was going to happen. I had already been pulled over twice in the last week, once for running a stop sign, the second for speeding. It’s about 1am and only that time because of the day light savings. It is now passed my curfew.

When I was a junior in High School I did a work study every morning at my community hospital; Dundy County Hospital. I am from rural southwest Nebraska, so our hospital is very small in comparison to the hospitals here in Lincoln. One day, while I was work studying in the Physical Therapy department there was a code red announced over the hospital’s intercom system. Almost instantaneously the hospital came alive. That day an Amtrak had derailed only a couple miles out of town. That day I was able to witness first hand our community come together like I have never seen before, and it all started at our hospital. At that moment, I realized that helping people and providing healthcare is what I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. Since I will be a part of the healthcare community in the next few years, I have taken an interest in the major changes that have been implanted in the healthcare world, one of those changes being the introduction of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act.

Thirty professionally trained and licensed staff members with a minimum of five years work experience each are ready to address families and patients’ social and emotional needs. Our goal is to provide patients and families with exceptional care during trying times so they can attain their maximum level of psychosocial functioning.

I am so sorry! My heart goes out to your sister and all in your family. It's good that she is trying to be positive. Healthcare is a HUGE pet peeve of mine; don’t even get me started! I certainly relate to the crappie ass poor hospital/doc/health care some folks experience. I'm glad she has an advocate in you and the family. Greg and I have learned many hard lessons. One being, if you don't speak up you will never be heard and can easily fall through the cracks unfortunately. Please know that we are thinking of your sister and send prayers and well wishes.

My initial plan was to go back to school, because my boss at work is planning on retiring. I would like to take her position, within the next five years. I am currently a patient access representative or more commonly known as a registration clerk for St. Vincent Mercy Hospital. I am not one hundred percent sure that I want to pursue this now, our department was just outsourced. After hearing all of my bosses concerns, it makes me question if I want to stay here at all. My last day is the 16th of July as a St. Vincent employee. A company named R1, which was formally called Accretive Health, is our new employer and will be taking over patient access associates on July 17, 2017. I have been here for over ten years, and love everyone that I

In addition, I come from a disadvantaged area with a shortage of physicians. I know from experience the difficulty in having healthcare access from these areas. I have volunteered in nursing homes and free clinics in these areas and I thoroughly have felt very satisfied and accomplished during my time there.

To this day, my mother, a CNA at a local hospital where she’s been for the past 24 year, fears going to hospitals herself; let that sink in. This is common in the community in which I was raised and I’m sure in many other underserved communities across this nation as well. Many do not trust in our healthcare system and I want to work towards changing their perspective. I want to educate those in underserved communities on the importance of taking care of themselves and seeking treatment when necessary. Having been raised in an underserved community myself, I believe that I am in a unique position to truly make a difference. My other hope is that I can inspire the children of these communities to follow their dreams. Maybe, just maybe, they will be able to use our similarities as a starting point as they embark on the lifelong journey of self-identification and self-discovery. Having the opportunity to pursue my dream of becoming a physician, coupled with the potential impact that I can have on communities that are often neglected is the reason that I want to be a healthcare professional.

AmeriCorps is the first opportunity that I’ve encountered that will allows me to incorporate both my community services volunteering experiences and my career passions. I have experiences in community outreach and engagement by being a program coordinator and I have healthcare experiences through my services in the hospital playroom. Yet, my career passion is to combine the two and work with the community on health issues and concerns that underserved and underrepresented populations have in regards to community health. With the AmeriCorps program, I am able used the skills and knowledge that I’ve gained from my experiences and turn them into a real setting and make an impact on the lives of the community.

There is something wrong with our health care system. A lack of synchronization between doctors, hospitals, patients, and the government that generates inefficiencies. I did not realize this not until several years ago, when I had an sinusitis. It was so hard for me and my family because of my sinus problems. I wasn’t able to do my activities smoothly, I trapped in the hospital bed for weeks and couldn’t go to school. We were given a ton of paperwork that a guardian and I, the patient, were required to sign. The paperwork was either for hospitals or insurance. At that moment I thought, what exactly was the point of all the paperwork, in the digital era when all of it could be send and filled out through the internet? I believe many of the hospital

Once I complete my training as a Physician Assistant, I want to use my clinical skills to improve healthcare delivery to underserved populations. My passion and commitment to this endeavor stems from my own experience as an African American male growing up in a underserved population. I knew from an early age that the environment that I was growing up in was not a healthy one and I fully understood when my father moved our family to a more suburban environment. Although we were moving to a better environment, I felt a deep sense of sadness that I was losing my friends and abandoning my home. My core motivation toward helping underserved populations stems from my belief that there is hope for those communities and the people who live in them.

Over spring break, I asked my family about our family health care insurance. I learn about our type of insurance and coverage, amount paid for by us and my father’s employer, and the deductible and co-pay. I also learned about the difference between a PPO insurance and a HMO insurance.

During this course, I feel that I should work on building a more professional attitude and behavior, and improving on business practices. These areas will be important in any profession I decide to take upon graduating with my degree in Business Administration. Maintaining a professional attitude and behavior in the workplace will be helpful to insure that I do not disrespect coworkers by interrupting them while they talk about their ideas. It will also help me to value colleague opinions, avoid gossip, and be cordial

Though every community is unique, the complexity of urban environments is something that I am familiar with through my time spent working and studying in Dorchester, MA – a financially diverse urban borough of greater Boston. I have learned that addressing the needs of such a community entails attention to the distinct needs of individuals, and the ability to communicate with the individual about what those needs are. As a Patient Advocate at Codman Health Center, I always listen attentively to the unique circumstances of my clients. While some clients articulate their situations well, others do not. So I am able to exercise proper judgement and intuition which is pertinent for meeting the needs of a client.

My interest in healthcare, began when I was old enough to recognize my career options. While most kids were talking about being rock stars and movie stars, I pretty much had my goal set. I just wanted to help people. This is mainly due to the fact that most of the women who have raised me are all medical professionals. Their experience as black women in the medical field has served as a lesson and has built my character and inspiration for my goals. Because of my mother’s career as a nurse was and still is demanding, I became independent at an early age. This independence planted my strong interest in the healthcare industry.

I have worked in several environments that focused on innovative care. Teaching a compassion class involved numerous health care professionals. Hearing advice and stories from people in varied facets of health care gives me a better understanding of their respective fields. Those experiences have prepared me for developing professional relationships and collaborating in interdisciplinary teams. VITAS also takes a team approach to patient care and I was involved in communicating with them about the patient I volunteered for. In the free clinic, we connected with local resources to find affordable care for patients. Lastly, my commitment to integrative medicine and wellness promotion involves being aware of many modalities of health care.