Unlike most of the other incredible
VIPs I have met during my first rotation as a VIP at the Crossroad Health
Center, I had already graduated and begun a career before applying and joining
the team. I spent a year and a half working for a local Aerospace company (not
GE! But we did make parts for GE) in Engineering, R&D, and testing. While
intriguing and scientifically challenging, I felt unfulfilled and ended up
resigning this position to focus on community healthcare and chase a lifelong
ambition of becoming a doctor. I met with a family friend who works in this
capacity to ask advice on how to achieve my goals. The sum of her invaluable advice
was to gain knowledge and get involved, with the culmination of her
recommendations being to apply to the VIP program. I cannot express how lucky I
am to have had that person in my life.
Being a Crossroad’s VIP has allowed
me to gain experience in a modern healthcare setting while making a difference
to the people in our city. It is vital for anyone with an interest in
healthcare to understand how the cost of care and medicine has created a
barrier to healthy living that the staff at Crossroad, and us as VIPs, work
everyday to bring down just a little bit for those we serve. Every referral is
not just a task to check off of a life, but also the possibility to change
someone’s life. As a VIP, I have seen empowerment, relief, and genuine joy
resulting from the work we do everyday.
I spent the past year looking for
opportunities to get involved in healthcare and become better acquainted with
healthcare today. I have yet to find an opportunity that provides such a
powerful platform to learn from while also providing a frequently overlooked
service to the community, as does the VIP program. When I arrived for
orientation, I could not help but notice I was slightly older than most of the
other VIPs in the room. But I learned very quickly how smart, dedicated, and
caring each and every person in the program is. I can honestly say that I feel
privileged to be a peer and coworker with every single VIP. The work the
Crossroad Health Center performs, along with the amazing group of VIPs I have
gotten to know, is the kind of action that the future of this and any
community, and including one’s self, can be built from.
-- Griffin Bates
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