Treating the Soul and Body, One Smile at a Time

I realized the true power of Crossroad Health Center when one patient told me, "This is the happiest I have been in months!" This patient I shadowed with Dr. VanMilligan was elderly and suffered from depression. However, like any proud grandparent, the patient showed me pictures of her grandchildren and became more lively and silly as she talked to me more. The patient told me that this was the happiest she had been in months, after being able to talk and laugh with others who cared about her. She made me realize the impact that I could play in someone's life just by talking to them and really listening to them. I think this is one side of medicine that is not addressed as often. Mental health and social health needs to be included with physical health. For a doctor to treat a patient, they need to not just help treat the body but the mind as well. I think it would be interesting to see how this could play a part in public health and my medical career in the future.

I began volunteering at Crossroad Health Center in September 2013. Ever since then, I have worked on projects ranging from diabetic patient follow-ups, referral tracking calls, tobacco treatment calls, and pre-visit planning room work. My volunteer work at Crossroad has taught me the complexity of the medical field. Being a doctor is more than seeing a patient and prescribing medicines. During my Success in Health Professions course my freshman year at the University of Cincinnati, I learned about how treating a patient requires the cooperative and interdisciplinary work of nurses, doctors, medical assistants, administrative staff, allied health professionals, volunteers, and the so on. Crossroad Health Center has this unique community focus and is able to effectively work collaboratively to help their patients as a patient centered medical home.

        
The providers at Crossroad have showed me how to treat not just the body, but the soul as well. Dr. O'Dea knows many of her patients on an individual basis and the visit is not just focused on the person as a patient, but the person as a fellow human being and friend. One of my favorite quotes posted in the exam rooms is by Peggy O'Mara,"The way we talk to our children becomes their inner voice." As a future physician interested in pediatrics, I look up to Nurse Practitioner Brook Gumm and the way she is able to talk to children in a loving, friendly way and talk to parents in an informative and comforting manner.

        
I have realized that the projects that I have worked on have helped the patients and create a community for the patients to feel important. It is nice to have a community at Crossroad who cares about each patient as a person and works to bring a smile to each and every patient's face every single day.

- Mahima Venkatesh