Access to Healthcare by Julia

Access to Healthcare by Julia - July 2015 Scholarship Essay

I listen to a woman's story at a migrant farm worker health clinic as I take a break from taking blood sugar and blood pressure for a stream of patients. The deep wrinkles engraved in her skin expose me to the evidence of her arduous journey in an impoverished village. French words roll off of her tongue. I eagerly await the translator's reiteration of her words, determined to bear witness to her story. She is 47, comes from French Polynesia, and calls a bunk bed in a barrack for 100 people home. Her husband works at OJ Thrall Tobacco Farm from dawn to dusk with little compensation and declining health. Her voice is powerful. It reminds me how lucky I am to have access to education as she reiterates the big dream of being a doctor she had. I tell her I want to be a doctor too. She smiles and says that the only difference between us is that I can make my dreams a reality. I promise her I will use my education to change peoples' lives.

In college, I am determined to make healthcare accessible to everyone. My goal is to make a difference by starting community health clinics and engaging medical and dental students and practitioners. Clinics allow people in need to receive preventative care, immunizations, basic medicines, referrals, and diagnoses that otherwise would not be accessible. There are great inequities that exist in healthcare, and urban health centers are often overwhelmed, expensive, and unable to meet the growing demands of urban populations. Clinics are an alternative that create low cost solutions. The migrant farm worker clinic I volunteer at has changed peoples' lives, often with simple things like insulin or eye glasses, and by going to college I can take the experience that I have gained and use it to extend the impact made. College is the gateway to knowledge that can help me make a difference in the world and leave a mark of change that grows with sustainable initiatives.