Dedication to the Community

As a CVIP intern, I have gained insightful and invaluable perspective about the healthcare challenges that underserved communities can face. Crossroad Health Center truly fits the designation of patient-centered medical home, with a large and encompassing list of services. From childhood services, to mental health and addiction counseling, to the pharmacy located on its first floor, CHC helps patients manage their health in a community that faces sizable economic and social challenges.  Shadowing the selfless providers at OTR has allowed me to reflect and gain perspective about the unique and seemingly insurmountable situations that patients can face.

One of the most important principles I learned during my rotation is that medicine cannot be contained to the health center. To impact communities in the most meaningful manner, health care must go beyond the exam room, through education and community outreach. One of the ways I participated in this was by volunteering for a Crossroad event at its West location, during National Health Center Week. Although the day I volunteered on was not as busy as previous days of the weeklong event, I still enjoyed interacting with the children and parents that did come to play and learn, respectively.

Some of the situations that patients have to face seemed unreal. One patient that left an impression on me was a woman who had come in for intense back-pain. After a lengthy wait for the provider on a very busy day, she was lying on the exam-room table when I entered. The pain had been triggered while lifting her arm, and she did not know what medications she was taking, perhaps due to continuity of care issues. However, her history of back pain was what struck me most; it had started when she was stabbed in the back, literally, by her ex-husband in the past. The pain had been exacerbated after being involved in an auto accident half a year prior to the visit. She was forced to deal with the pain at her work, for fear of losing her job, for which she was on her feet all day. Finally, just weeks before, the patient had been struck by a vehicle which knocked her down and ran over her foot, while walking to the bus stop from her chiropractor’s. All of this had been poured out to Dr. Rahner between gasps of pain, and I could not help but empathize as she described feeling mad, angry, and disgusted.

The experience made me reflect on the profound impact, and unique relationship that providers at CHC have with their patients. Perhaps the most notable aspect of this relationship is the amount of trust, and respect that patients have for their provider. Through shadowing and service in the community, I have learned much from both staff and patients at Crossroad. It is a safe and hopeful place in a community that faces challenges that reach beyond health care, and the dedication to service and well-being in the community is what makes me most proud about being an intern at Crossroad Health Center.

--Irwin Mahajan