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!