FAMILY MEDICINE RESIDENCY PERSONAL STATEMENT

As sage smoke rises from a shell full of embers, I watch Sandra waft the smoke over her body, washing away any reticence she had about sharing her past. She holds an eagle’s feather to help provide the strength to talk about her struggles with alcohol and drugs. I witnessed her testimony in the Healing Circle, a Native-American tradition, adapted to treat clients at the Healing Center. Part of my Family Medicine rotation was spent studying the impact of cultural activities on drug and alcohol rehabilitation. While I had seen Maggie in clinic for her chronic joint pain due to rheumatoid arthritis and had discussed treatment options for her somatic complaints, I saw how the Healing Circle catered to her emotional and spiritual needs, giving her the courage to admit how badly alcohol and drugs had damaged her health, and to give her the resolve to abstain from further abuse.

This experience reinforced my belief that primary care must incorporate people’s emotional, cultural, and spiritual well-being with their physical health. I first realized the importance of primary care during my work in Chad where I encountered medical emergencies that could have been handled by a general practitioner. From this experience, my interest in medicine and primary care grew. Since then, I have taken special interest in activities that focus on the well-being of others such as providing emotional support to people with developmental disabilities, educating middle school children on HIV, and coordinating activities at the Retirement Home. I particularly enjoyed my Primary Care Track continuity clinic where I provided healthcare at a Med/Peds clinic to an underserved population in East Urban City. There, I learned the uniqueness of different cultures and personalities, fine-tuned my interpersonal skills, and came to understand the importance of social and personal issues to a patient’s overall health. All of these experiences have served to reinforce my interest in primary care.

I believe that these experiences in diverse socio-economic and cultural settings with people of all ages have uniquely prepared me for a career in Family Medicine. I thoroughly believe in working with family units and addressing the patient as a “whole person”. My two-month clinical rotation in Alaska reinforced this where I was impressed by the family practitioner’s ability to handle a wide variety of situations, from a pediatric case of asthma exacerbation, to an 84 year-old woman’s collagenous colitis flare. I also enjoyed coordinating patient care with other specialists and social service groups, educating people on preventative care, and helping patients understand their ailments. Furthermore, I found the opportunity in family practice, to establish long-term relationships with each patient and family.

My life experiences, clinical rotations, and education make me certain that a career in Family Medicine is right for me. I enjoy approaching complex problems in a systematic manner. My previous studies in biological and environmental engineering honed these skills and I use them in my clinical rotations and research. I enjoy taking a problem apart and dividing it into organ based systems, looking for connections, and searching for the root of a problem. My strengths lie in my ability to address and incorporate a person’s cultural and emotional well-being while tackling a generalized problem and narrowing the options down to a single source. Ultimately, my goal is to find a program with a diverse cultural and socio-economic patient population, with an excellent community outreach and ancillary programs that address patients’ mental and social needs. As a family physician, I feel I have the best opportunity to impact a person’s overall well-being and at the same time further enrich my life with culture and diversity.