What important lesson did you learn in your community exposure? This question was asked by one of our teachers during an interview about our school’s curriculum. I thought it was a simple question and I thought of a hundred reasons immediately. I learned how to speak their language, I learned how to deal with different people having different backgrounds, I learned how to adapt to different environments quickly and so much more. However, this simple question is thought provoking. It allows you dig deeper into your experience.
Priorities… I think this is the most important lesson that I learned in the community. What comes over the other, something that we need more than other things or the first thing in our to-do list—all these refer to priorities. In the community, I learned that different people have different priorities. A family with two children have different priorities from that of an extended family with 10 members. An old couple who no longer have kids in their care is also different from that of a couple starting a family. They face different struggles everyday which makes their priorities differ as well. As a health advocate, what really hit me was that health ends up as their last priority. They think health is costly and sometimes far from their reach. They have different things to consider before they decide to come for consult, buy the prescribed medicine or have their family member admitted. Sometimes, even if it’s a matter of life and death, their conflicting priorities still pushes health to the last place. However, in population health, I learned that health is a resource. It is what allows us to do the things we need to do everyday. It is what makes us efficient and productive. It would be good if we invest in our health and the health of our family. It is not the goal we aspire for, but something that makes us reach our goals in life. For this reason, we should strive for health to be accessible, affordable, and attainable to the people.
And so another thought-provoking question waits to be answered: When other priorities come before health, what can medical students like us do to bridge the gap?
Priorities… I think this is the most important lesson that I learned in the community. What comes over the other, something that we need more than other things or the first thing in our to-do list—all these refer to priorities. In the community, I learned that different people have different priorities. A family with two children have different priorities from that of an extended family with 10 members. An old couple who no longer have kids in their care is also different from that of a couple starting a family. They face different struggles everyday which makes their priorities differ as well. As a health advocate, what really hit me was that health ends up as their last priority. They think health is costly and sometimes far from their reach. They have different things to consider before they decide to come for consult, buy the prescribed medicine or have their family member admitted. Sometimes, even if it’s a matter of life and death, their conflicting priorities still pushes health to the last place. However, in population health, I learned that health is a resource. It is what allows us to do the things we need to do everyday. It is what makes us efficient and productive. It would be good if we invest in our health and the health of our family. It is not the goal we aspire for, but something that makes us reach our goals in life. For this reason, we should strive for health to be accessible, affordable, and attainable to the people.
And so another thought-provoking question waits to be answered: When other priorities come before health, what can medical students like us do to bridge the gap?