Personal Narrative: Working At Alpha Chiropractic

When deciding on a career, I did not know straightaway I would pursue physical therapy. But I did know that I wanted to do something within the health science field, even at an early age. Every person in my family was involved in health care one way or another; some uncles are doctors, a few aunts are nurses, a couple cousins are surgeons, and my own mother is a physical therapist, so a career in healthcare was all I knew growing up. For a good majority of my life, I seriously thought about becoming a doctor, but that surely changed over time.

People’s experiences shape their lives and influence the choices they make, their expectations, and formulate their behavior and mindset. I have always loved to learn! As a child, I was constantly at the library and playing school. I recall being in 5th grade when my teacher handed me the science manual and a box of equipment, and asked me to ‘figure it out’ and recreate it for the class. I couldn’t have been more thrilled!

My back is sore. I'm waiting in the chiropractor's waiting room. Today during third period my back all of a sudden started hurting excruciatingly bad, I felt like an old man with constant aching and pain in my lower back off to the left side of the spine. My cousin Truman told me about chiropractors a little while back on a hike, he told me how they crack your back or neck or anywhere but make you feel like a different man as you walk out. Your joints and bones he told me feel light and carefree after the adjustment.

An experience that has provided me with the most growth as a person is my involvement in mentoring an at-risk teen in Athens, GA for 3 years. Mentoring has improved my leadership and interpersonal skills. It kept me accountable to living at a higher standard in order to be a positive role model for another person. I also developed a greater appreciation for diversity from spending time with a person from a culture much different from my own. Overall this experience instilled a passion for all people regardless of race, ethnicity, social status, gender, or age. A genuine interest for others motivates me to learn more about human behaviors and pursue a career in counseling. Another experience I have that has provided me with opportunities to grow and improve is my experience as an intern at Jay’s Hope Foundation. The Jay’s Hope Foundation offers many different avenues of support to children diagnosed with cancer and their families. I was able to be in direct contact with families facing life-threatening situations. It was a very emotionally heavy internship, but I learned so much and was encouraged by the resiliency of the children and families. At Jay’s Hope, I learned the importance of teamwork, I developed flexibility, I became more organized, and I gained more confidence in my ability to

My second clinic rotation is internal medicine and I’ve had many encounters, both with patients and colleagues, which have made me pause and reflect. One of those encounters, in particular, will still be on my mind long after I finish typing this reflective journal. The patient at the center of it all is a lady I’ll refer to from here on as “Mrs. Flowers.” Mrs. Flowers is an 81 year old female with dementia and diabetes. She arrived on our unit with a diabetic foot infection that had progressed from a simple toe ulcer to wet gangrene. Over the last 2-3 months, gangrenous changes encompassed the distal half of her left foot. During pre-rounds, our medical team unanimously agreed that we would contact surgery for a consult. At time, it was obvious

Even though it may not sound like it, my most memorable experience is working for a home care company. The company I work for is called Residential Physicians Association. I have been working with this company for 2 years as a Medical Assistant. My role is assisting doctors in making home visits. These home visits are more relaxed than hospital visits because the patients are in the comfort of their own home. It is a rewarding feeling to see how grateful patients are to have a service come out to their house. Taking vitals and drawing blood is my most learned skill I have learned with this job. Doing these small procedures gives me hope that I can one day succeed in major medical surgeries. The opportunity of this job has shaped me to find my calling while enjoying every day of it. Memorable experiences are created every day without realizing, while creating memories is important, it is also important that you are

Growing up, I honestly never had a clue as to what I wanted to do when I grew up. But even back then I had ambition, I knew I wanted to do something that would make a direct impact, and thus my attention was immediately drawn to the science field. As I got older, I realized how amazing it would be to work directly with people and to physically help them. My dad would always have me massage him, and through many years of practice I realized that never once did I hate doing it, but I knew massage therapists hardly make enough money to live on their own. So I narrowed my field of search to the medical field and thus I found the occupation of a Chiropractor, where everything I was looking for in a job converged. A chiropractor is a major attraction

As I pulled into the rehabilitation center’s parking lot Monday afternoon I couldn't wait to get inside and feel the breeze of the air conditioning as I escaped from the 95 degree blazing hot weather outside. I was very anxious because I wasn’t sure how this interview would go, let alone if it would happen. I wasn't certain the physical therapist I was going to interview would have time to fit me in. I was up the night before trying to figure out what I wanted to learn from this interview and what kind of questions I would ask. I decided to focus my questions towards the physical therapist I have been shadowing to get to know more about him and his experiences with the job. So far through out my research I have been focusing on the physical therapists and their relationships with patients. I wanted my readers learn more about the person who is caring for these patients and what goes on that patients do not see.

In the beginning, physical therapy made my recovery tedious. I was only interested because it allowed me the opportunity to learn numerous types of injuries from a variety of individuals. For example, I met a girl who broke her arm from falling off the monkey bars. Or the boy who had a complete elbow dislocation, while playing basketball. Although I was entertained by these interesting stories, they made me feel guilty. I was congratulating strangers for their quick recovery, while my own felt treacherous. Therefore, I grew frustrated and irritated with physical therapy and I denied any positivity in my recovery. I became envious until my envy evolved into a depression because I was incapable of physical activities. Therefore, I was forced

Positive experience. One of the positive experience that happened when I was hired as an assistant to a fashion blogger. That position gave me a lot benefits such as I was able meet people who work in different career fields, hear stories about their life and work experience. That job gave me inspiration me but most of all because of meeting and interacting with different people I was able to chose which career path to follow. This working environment showed me how important networking is for our modern society and that there are other benefits in performing the work than just receiving a financial

I told a massage therapist today that I haven’t had a lot of time for self-care because I have a three year old and a ten month old. She laughed and said on my behalf, “Self-care? WHAT’S THAT?!”

When I entered the workforce at 16, there weren’t many high paying jobs available for someone with absolutely no previous work experience. The only job available for me was in the fast food industry, so my first job was at TacoBell. Working at TacoBell, exposed me to my very first management style.

This morning I had my first chiropractic appointment in over a year. Last year around this time, I stopped all my physical therapy and visits to the chiropractor because after getting hit by that car, I was so done with being poked, prodded, twisted, and pulled with no sign of improvement. I just needed a break!

Through my prior experiences, I have learned a large variety of skills, some of which include attention to detail, communication skills, and leadership. At UCSD Movement Disorders Center I was exposed to patient paperwork with sensitive information. Editing patient videos, I learned to recognized and distinguish small nuances in similar neurodegenerative diseases. I quickly learned the basics of the tests for neurodegenerative tests and why they do those tests. While the work was repetitive, I could develop ways to efficiently move through the work with precision. At UCSD I was learned how to speak up if I was unsure about what I was looking at, and by communicating with my supervisor in this way I learned much more than if I had stayed

When I entered the workforce at 16, there weren’t many high paying jobs available for someone with absolutely no previous work experience. The only job available for me was in the fast food industry, so my first job was at TacoBell. Working at TacoBell, exposed me to my very first management style.