From my life experiences, I have become so passionate about
community health. When I applied to this program, I wrote about a harrowing
experience at a hospital in India when I was in second grade. My dad was a
family physician in Portsmouth, Ohio, so a lot of my childhood was shaped by my
experiences in his office. I was accustomed to stuffy waiting rooms and the
occasional distressed patient but for the most part, I was inspired by the
patterns I saw in my dad’s patients; regardless of their mood in the waiting
room, they always left with a smile. That’s what I believed medicine was:
making people happy and solving small band-aid problems. To me, this was
impactful and important.
In India, I saw that health was much more complex can that. The
hospital was unbelievably underserved; waiting rooms were overcrowded and
patients were often left begging for medical attention. The quality of life for
these people was drastically different from what I saw in my dad’s office; I
realized from this experience that medicine and public health are often very
lacking in many communities. As I grew up, I learned more about the health
disparities that existed in my community. I was shocked to learn that
Portsmouth -- a quaint, small town in Southeast Ohio -- was nationally known as
“the pill mill of America” because of its severe drug addiction problem. At
later shadowing experiences when I was older, I realized how uninformed most of
the patients there were; they struggled to afford their medications. were often
underinsured or not insured, and were unable to advocate for themselves in
their government due to lack of information and cultural beliefs. The more I
learned about my community, the more I realized that this issue of lack of
access to healthcare was not a “third world country” issue, but rather a
pervasive issue that is common in communities worldwide -- even in a first
world, superpower country like mine. Furthermore, I came to see how the systems
in place sustained societal barriers that disadvantaged patients and community
members in Portsmouth from improving their health and life changes.
As an intern at Crossroad, I have the opportunity to help
patients get better access to healthcare. Working in OTR, the patient
population is entirely different from that of Portsmouth’s, but I’ve found that
the general idea is similar. Patients here, also, are disadvantaged by the
systems in place and struggle to get access to basic health resources. Also
similar to the patients in Portsmouth, they truly do want to improve their
health. They are not lazy or impassioned; most of them have families that they
work very hard to support and life --
whether that’s a cultural barrier or lack of transportation, insurance, or
access to a phone -- often gets in the way of their health. Healthcare is a
human right and these patients deserve help getting connected to the resources
they need. As an intern, I get to be a part of this support network. At
Crossroad, almost every day is a victory for our patients’ quality of health.
Sometimes, the process goes so smoothly: appointments are scheduled, patients
attend them, and their health improves. Other days, they require much more
labor and patience; sometimes we’re on the phone for hours trying to find a
provider who will accept our patient’s insurance -- and we aren’t always
successful. Once, the only liver scan I was able to find for a patient
diagnosed with hepatitis C was months out; this day, I remember being extremely
frustrated with the barriers that our patients constantly face in our community.
In these moments, I remind myself that there is still so much awareness to
raise, research to complete, and policy to advocate for in the fight to improve
community health. Being a part of Crossroad and having the rewarding experience
of interacting with the patients, who are always grateful and kind, reminds me
to keep working and studying so I can use my education to improve health.
-- Sachika Singh
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