Final Week

With the clinic closed on Wednesday do to Thanksgiving, I chose to volunteer on Monday in the morning. I was sent to the dental clinic once again, with boxes that STILL needed to be recorded! The head dentist that I usually see was not there this week as he was taking the whole week off to visit his family. With this being my final week, I started to realize how long I had been volunteering at San Jose. Starting last semester, through the summer, and now finally the fall semester, I have definitely seen myself transition from a complete "newbie" to someone who is friends with the other workers and familiar with how the clinic operates. I think everybody should try to volunteer at an underserved clinic at some point, especially those interested in the healthcare field. It's good to see the other side of healthcare, outside of hospitals or private practices. As students, we get to observe how procedures change based on the amount of resources available, and this may be something that will prepare us for our future career.

This Service Learning Project has been a very useful project. Not only have I been able to talk about my experiences during my interviews, but it overall helped us learn more about clinics around Houston and certain aspects of the healthcare system. Hopefully, our brochures will help the patients learn more about various diseases they are at risk for and we can help prevent any unnecessary diseases from spreading.

9th Week

Another week, another trip to the dental clinic. There are about 4 boxes of patient charts left that still need to be recorded and then all of the charts will be shredded. So once again, I spent my hour recording patient names and ID's and talking to the dentists that strolled in and out of the office. Even though I'm performing a very easy task, at least it keeps me busy and I always have someone to talk to. It's nice walking into the dental clinic and having the head dentist know my name and constantly joking with me. Each week, I learn something new about the dentists and what the dentistry industry is like. For example, almost everyone I have spoken to says that they immediately went to work after graduating from dental school instead of doing a voluntary 1 year residency. They told me that they felt the residency was unnecessary because they could easily learn the new information by enrolling in other classes that are offered outside of residency. On the other hand, my brother (who is a dentist) told me that he loved his residency and learned so much...so I still wonder what I should do. With me simply recording information and carrying on conversations with the dentist, my hour seems to fly by because I'm having fun. However, with the Service Learning Project presentation coming up in less than 2 weeks, I need to start talking to my group and determine which disease we should research!

Charts, Charts, Charts!

Because I did not volunteer last week, I volunteered for 2 hours this week. The dental clinic still needed help with organizing old patient charts...a project that seemed to drag on forever! Despite having numerous volunteers help out for several weeks, I was told that after writing down all of the patient's names and ID numbers, there was another step to the project...so at least there will always be something for the volunteers to do!

Every time I am in the dental clinic, it is just so great to see how friendly everyone is. The dentists joke around with the assistants, and they are so good at calming down nervous patients. It really is a great working environment and it's all for a really great cause. Everyone welcomes the volunteers with a smile, and they always try to joke around and start conversations with us which helps me feel less intimidated. The head dentist told me that even though he took a huge pay cut to work at San Jose, he loves it. He is originally from up north so he really likes the warm weather in Houston, and he is really enjoying being out of private practice. I think it's great that he truly knows what makes him happy. At first, he was a mechanical engineer and realized it wasn't right for him. Now he's a dentist that has switched from a private practice to a clinic for the uninsured...and he's happy where he is. Hopefully, I one day I can experience this feeling too!

Love Being at the Dental Clinic

Due to a scheduling conflict, I had to volunteer in the morning instead of in the afternoon. Since I was needed in the dental clinic again anyways, it didn't make much of a difference what time I volunteered. Once again, while I was writing down patient information, there were dentists that roamed in and out of the office while they waited for their patients to arrive. This time, one of the dentists was a permanent dentist who worked at the clinic everyday, and the other dentist volunteered about 3 times per year. I learned that the permanent dentist was a mechanical engineer before he chose to enter dentistry, and the other dentist was a hygienist before she became a dentist. After learning about my interest in dentistry, they both could not stress the importance of having fun in dental school. As with any professional school, the amount of work that students get hit with is unimaginable. They told me that there is no way to prepare for it until I'm actually in the situation. They told me that I absolutely CANNOT, no matter how much work I have, lock myself in my room and study because I'll go insane! They stressed that I should force myself to schedule time for...myself. Whether it's exercising for an hour a day, going out with friends, or joining sororities, there is something I must do to keep me well-rounded and away from studying.

With all of the advice that I have been receiving from experienced dentists over the past few weeks, I am excited to volunteer every week. When I used to shadow dentists, I mainly learned about technical dental procedures and how to run a successful office. Although learning this information is pertinent to me becoming a successful dentist, the advice I am receiving at San Jose is also critical. I'm learning about what dental school used to be like, the journeys all of these dentists have been through, and what I need to do in dental school to succeed. The information I'm learning at San Jose is definitely irreplaceable and hopefully I'll be able to utilize them in the future.

6th Week

Once again, I volunteered at the dental clinic this week. They still needed help organizing old patient files so I wrote down patient names and ID's. While I was working, there was a dentist who had a lot of downtime so he was sitting in the same room as me. Trying to avoid any awkward silence, I figured I might as well tell him that I want to go to dental school. I told him that I applied to dental schools during the summer and that I have been to 3 interviews: Houston, San Antonio, and LSU. He was very surprised that I had received interviews so early, and he assured me that with my grades and DAT score, I was going to be accepted somewhere. I explained to him that my Texas interviews were very relaxed and conversational, and that I definitely would love to be accepted to Houston, which was where he graduated from! Then I explained to him that my LSU interview was slightly more formal, and LSU required students to perform a Chalk-carving test to test our perceptual ability and manual dexterity. We were told we had to carve a piece of chalk in a certain way, with certain dimensions, and we would be graded on accuracy, smoothness, and how good our angles were. The dentist was definitely surprised that this was apart of the admissions process, but he explained that in his first year of dental school, students must create a tooth out of a block of wax. Thus, he assumed that LSU was preparing students for this process. I then told him that my brother owns a dental office in Conroe and that he is a graduate of NYU, which is the same school the dentist's daughter went to! I learned that this dentist volunteers every other Wednesday, and he told me he would love to talk to me as much as he could. I am very excited to continue to talk to him and hopefully learn more about dentistry.

Overall, it was just really great talking to someone about dental school and the admissions process. With the first round of acceptances coming out December 1st, I am getting pretty nervous. I can't believe that in less than 2 months, I will know if I am one step closer to reaching my goal. I know that if I don't get my acceptance on December 1st, it doesn't mean I should lose hope, it just simply means I'll just have to wait in suspense a little bit longer! In the meantime, I know I just need to focus on maintaining my grades and try to enjoy my last year at UST as much as possible as well as continue waiting for anymore interviews!

5th Week

This week, I once again went around the clinic asking people to fill out surveys. This time, the survey was an annual survey that San Jose Clinic carries out in order to gain more insight into patient satisfaction and how they clinic can approve. Because I am not fluent in Spanish, I could only ask English-speaking patients to participate in the survey...and this was a lot harder than in seemed! I was only able to find 3 English-speaking patients in an hour, definitely showing once again why Spanish is such an important language in Houston. Many of the questions asked if the patients were satisfied with their visit, was the staff nice, was it hard to find the clinic, would you recommend the clinic to others, and questions of that nature. The patients I talked to were very satisfied with their visit, with most of them being patients at San Jose Clinic for over 5 years.

Being at San Jose Clinic for many months now, I have been able to observe the reward the volunteering doctors receive. To be able to help save someone's life or help improve their quality of living must be a great, irreplaceable feeling. When I get asked during my dental school interviews where I see myself in 10 years, I always make sure to include that I want to be volunteering at an underserved clinic in the Houston area. I want to be able to help those in need and it would be great if I was able to do it through caring for their health.

4th Week

This week, I spent some time at the front desk and then I spent the rest of the time helping the dental clinic with paperwork. An administrator from the dental clinic saw me volunteering at the front desk so she asked if I was free to also help her. Since the front desk was running smoothly, I was able to help her. I was excited to get to help the dental clinic, even if it was probably just easy paperwork. Last semester, I got to shadow dentists twice at San Jose, which was a good experience. I got to see how a dental clinic works in an under-served area compared to a clinic that serves more fortunate people (which had been my only previous experience). During that time, I saw that most of the patients, even if they were adults, were extremely nervous. This was to be expected since they have not had the opportunity to visit dentists often. But I saw that the dentists were very good at calming down their patients, and I saw the gratitude in the patients when the procedure was complete.

My job this week was to simply take some patient files and write down the patients' ID and names. Then I had to alphabetize the files. It didn't take much work, and I didn't get to see any actual dental procedures, but it was nice to be in the dental clinic once again. Just being in a dental clinic makes me feel comfortable, reassuring me that I am meant to be a dentist, and nothing else.

3rd Week

This week was a little interesting because I actually made a mistake, and I felt terrible about it. During the summer, the security guard told me to never allow homeless people to use the clinic's restrooms. If we let one person in, there's a good chance that they will let their friends know that the clinic let them use the restrooms and water fountains and many of them may camp out in the restrooms. However, I never really was forced to turn anyone away because the security guard was always at the front desk, and she usually handled it. But this week, while the security guard was at lunch, I was sitting at the front desk by myself. A middle-aged man came in and asked to use the restrooms. Without thinking I said, "sure, the restrooms are to your right." It never even occurred to me that this man was homeless! Eventually, the security guard came back and the man came out of the restroom. The man then turned to me and said, "thank you so much ma'm. Thank you very very much." I smiled and said good-bye. Once this happened, the security guard asked me what that man wanted, and I replied that he wanted to use the restrooms. The security guard gave me a look, and it was then that I realized my mistake. The security immediately told me that remember not to let homeless people in and I sort of received a lecture. I immediately apologized and explained that it's very hard for me to turn people away when all they want to do is use the restroom. The security guard wasn't angry and she understands that it's hard to play the bad guy, but it's something that has to be done when working in the area that San Jose Clinic is located.

This experience reinforced that I honestly need to stop being so shy. I know I'm a pushover and I'm too nice. I hate disappointing people or having people dislike me so I try to go out of my way just to please them. But in reality, this isn't always going to work. I know that I will have to be that bad guy and sometimes I'm just going to have to be plain mean. It's not something anyone wants to do, but I know there are times where it will benefit more people in the long run.

Second Week

During my second week back, I decided to talk to Sam to see if she needed anything done before I sat at the front desk. She told me that San Jose actually received a new children's book from a company, and San Jose had to record the responses and reactions of the kids that read the book. So Sam asked me to take the surveys and read the book to children I found in the clinic and then record their answers to the survey. The book was for ages 4 and up and it was written in both English and Spanish. Some of the questions on the survey were: "what did you like about the book?", "what didn't you like about the book?", and there were also questions for the parents to answer. When I was trying to find kids to read to, I found that most of them only knew Spanish. Thus, I had the problem of trying to find kids that knew English or had parents that spoke English. In the end, I was only able to get about 3 surveys done. I honestly felt kind of awkward just randomly approaching families and asking them if I could read to their children, but the parents were very nice and encouraged their children to speak up and not be shy.

After this experience, it reinforced the importance of knowing Spanish, especially if I would like to practice dentistry in Houston. Although I took some Spanish courses in high school and am currently taking Spanish I, I am no where near fluent. But after shadowing a few dentists and volunteering at San Jose, it seems that knowing Spanish is a must. My brother, who is a dentist, is not able to communicate with many of his patients because he does not know Spanish, and he has to instead ask his assistants to translate. I definitely want to avoid this language barrier and be able to talk and joke around with my patients, trying to make them feel as comfortable as possible. In the future, one of my goals is to be become fluent in Spanish so I can interact with my patients and with as much of the Houston community as possible.

Starting Up Again...

Because we had to do this same project for Dr. Nordyke's Medical Microbiology class, I am excited to do this project again; however, this time I will be much more comfortable with the clinic and it will be interesting to research the cell biology of the most common diseases seen in under-served Houston clinics. Since I was already volunteering at San Jose Clinic during the Spring semester, I decided to continue to volunteer there through out the summer as well. I went once a week for 2 hours and instead of always bouncing around from place to place every week, I was allowed to have the "job" of assisting the front desk. Because the secretary tends to get swamped with phone calls and constantly directing patients where to go, it was my job to try to help her direct patients to various parts of the clinic. I also have to make sure that the patients all wear a "visitor" badge before they are allowed to leave the lobby.

Once Fall semester started, I took a break from San Jose but I started back up again this week. It was great working with the people at the clinic again, talking and catching up with them. When I first started volunteering at San Jose, I was really disappointed that they rarely let students actually go into the dental or medical clinics, only letting them do paperwork or other miscellaneous tasks. But after spending the summer at San Jose, I really learned more about the clinic and the daily problems that occur when running these types of clinics. I am definitely very comfortable now working at San Jose as it has a great, friendly group of people and it helps so many people in need everyday.