#theVIPexperience Post #121: Andrea Szep

I first decided to apply to join the Crossroads VIP team because I wanted to find a way to stay engaged in healthcare during the COVID-19 crisis, and Crossroads was the only healthcare facility that had a program that could be done remotely. I thought that it could be a great organization to get involved in, but I didn't expect to get much out of it because I wasn't actually at the health center, and I couldn't build relationships with healthcare providers or interact with patients as much as I wanted to. However, throughout each shift that I covered I put my full effort into immersing myself into what I was doing, making sure that each patient I called was taken care of and knew about how we could help them. I also learned a great deal about the struggles faced by the marginalized populations that Crossroads serves, many of which had been brought to light for me after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Although these racial, social, economic, and gender-based injustices were faced by people face on a day to day basis before the pandemic, it is what caused me to do more research into these subjects and realize how broken our healthcare system can be, and how important it is for places like Crossroads to exist. A particularly humbling experience that I recall was calling an African American man who was experiencing chronic pain, and was on Medicare insurance. When I spoke to him about his referral, he mentioned that he had already visited a physician who disregarded his complaints and was generally inconsiderate and harsh to him. He worried that with his insurance that he wouldn’t be able to find another doctor, but didn’t want to see the last one because of his experience. In this situation I empathized with his concerns and worked to find him a new physician to help manage his chronic pain, but the realization that this person had to go through this situation was extremely saddening. I realize now more than ever that I want to be a physician in order to right the wrongs that these people face on a daily basis, and fight for racial, social, and economic justice wherever I can as a future healthcare provider.