Christmas Card Contest

San Jose Clinic is hosting a Christmas Card Coloring contest for the children. I helped out with making the entry box, cutting paper for the children to color on and typed out directions for the contest. The winner's picture will be used on the cover of the San Jose Clinic's Christmas Card. We needed to have the directions translated to Spanish too, so we found someone to translate and printed copies of those. I always feel very limited by not knowing Spanish, especially when volunteering at San Jose and realizing that it can be a serious barrier to health care administration. But then again, there are ways of communicating that do not involve language. I have been able to interact with many patients at the clinic without knowing a bit of Spanish--especially while coloring with kids in the waiting room. When I went on the first day of classes this semester, I was coloring with a little four-year-old girl who kept calling me teacher because all of her older siblings had gone off to school that day too. We played "school," colored, and put a puzzle together while her family was waiting for the pharmacy to open and fill their prescriptions. It is extrremely satisfying to know that I was able to help out a family that was already stressed out with regards to medical concerns, just by coloring with a little girl. Even though we couldn't understand each other's language, we still understood each other.

Health Literacy

Health Literacy is just as important and fundamental a task as it is to get people to go see the doctor in the first place. Since such a big part of the medical examination depends on obtaining an accurate patient history, miscommunication and not understanding the language can be a HUGE hindrance to quality health care administration that has little to do with the competence of the physician or with the patient. It is important to patient's to become their own advocates and take ownership of their health. Even in cases in which there is absolutely no language barrier what-so-ever, there are medical miscommunications in which patients do not fully understand how to take a particular medication regimen, or become confused from a doctor's medical gargon. In this case, the doctor needs to speak in a clear, non-technical, and concise manner, while the patient is responsible for asking questions and asking for clarifications as needed instead of passively absorbing everything and then missing out on something important. Working with the Literacy Council of Fort Bend County on Health Literacy Awareness has been brought to life at the San Jose Clinic. It is a real problem that needs to be addressed. In October, I put on a health literacy workshop for all of the ESL and basic literacy tutors in hopes that they will incorporate health-related vocabularly and dialogue in their lessons, so as their students learn English, they also learn practical everyday applications. I was proud to present The San Jose Clinic to the tutors to pass on to their students as a place to recieve health care because most of them are uninsured and therefore don't see the point of learning health literacy if they never have any chances of seeing a doctor anyway. But San Jose is offering hope to such individuals! October is Health Literacy Awareness month and I hope to put on the workshop again. Students at the literacy council have even been practicing by role playing doctor visits with a toy doctor's kit so that they can become familiar with common medical situations and how to deal with them.

San Jose

Working on the brochure, I realized how many medical professions take time out from their own busy practices in order to see patients at the San Jose Clinic. That, to me, seems to epitomize what medicine truly is about. I would do the very same one day. I am so blessed and so fortunate to be provided with the basic necessities and then some, that some people just go without on a daily basis. One day when I was walking in the front door, I walked in with a couple that were looking for a doctor under their medicaid plan and I couldn't help but listen to what they were told at the front desk -- basically what I already knew from previous information that I had learned and on the website, that individuals on Medicaid, Gold Care, Medicare, CHIPs, or any other type of discounted or government funded insurance plan, they are not eligible to be seen at the San Jose Clinic because these patients are have the means to be seen anywhere else by doctor's who would be actually getting compensated for their services. But the San Jose Clinic then truly is a safe haven for those that are completely uninsured to receive health care and health care services that they would otherwise be completely deprived of due to lack of insurance and/or funds to pay for such costly medical visits and pharmaceuticals. People need to know that the Clinic is here to help them so they can take full advantage of what the amazing people at the San Jose clinic are willing to offer to them.