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.