Last Post

This is my last official post for this service learning project; and I have to say that I did indeed learn alot. The San Jose Clinic is doing amazing things everyday to change lives and I am glad that I have been able to be a part of it, no matter how insignificantly. I hope to continue to volunteer at the clinic in my spare time, and on into med school when I can hopefully contribute in a larger way that has more of an impact medically. I can only imagine what kind of situtation health care administration will find itself in after the full implementation of the new legislature--hopefully it will be a positive result. Also, we definitely need to look into having Tri-Beta volunteer at Art with Heart again if the date is feasable (last year it was on graduation) because that is the main event where San Jose is able to collect generous funds for what they do, and a lot of effort goes into pulling off the successful event right down to helping out with the bidding itself the night of so that the clinic can benefit to the maximum amount. Having taken the Honors Service Learning Course, and having a service learning component in Cell, Medical Microbiology, and Ecology has definitely added a more tangible aspect to the course so that you are reminded of the bigger picture. Good night, and good luck...I'm going to need luck for those finals tomorrow ;)

Grown-Up Christmas Wish

When I was volunteering at San Jose yesterday, I worked in the dental clinic again on the file records. There were five boxes left to get through: I finished one box and a half, so there are still three entire boxes left. They are hoping to have them done before the holiday because they are taking up space. The files are old (from patients who have not returned in a while) and they are going to be shredded; that's why we are recording the names of the patients to go into a database. But I also did something new. I helped sort medical supplies that had been donated by St. Joeseph's Hospital. It was really interesting to through all of the equipment and surgical materials such as sterile gloves, needles, syringes, stitches, gause, emesis trays etc. Most of the kits were surgical eye kits for injections and procedures. That was particularly interesting to me because of my time shadowing ophthamologists: I have seen many a intra-vitreal or sub-conjunctival injection, and it looks painful. But, its better to endure that small period of pain rather than to go blind from the likes of macular degeneration. Wet AMD (age-related macular degeneration) is treated with intra-vitreal Avastin injections which just so happens to be an anti-tumor drug as well. This is because Avastin as a anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), and macular degenration is mostly a problem of neo-vascularization. Anyhow, it really struct me how blessed San Jose was that they were the recipients of such awesome medical supplies that can help them continue to provide the much needed care to the uninsured. My grown-up Christmas wish is being realized by them everyday.