Last week I volunteered at the Pacific Free Clinic , one of our two student-run free health clinics, and I had the time of my life. In fact, I’ve been wanting this week to go faster just so I can go back. I worked on the “Screen Team,” basically the first stop for people getting a checkup, or patients that want a basic health screening (clever, huh). We ask a bunch of diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol risk factor questions, as well as ask about Hepatitis B (a large percentage of our patients are Vietnamese). We work with volunteer translators, so it’s great to learn how to interact with patients in such a setting, as well as just becoming comfortable with the pauses and translating. It felt strange asking complete strangers fairly personal questions (especially in the case of a Spanish-speaking man who had his son with him, or the 25-year old Vietnamese speaker who brought his father to translate for him). Because we screen for HepB, we ask about IV drug usage and sexual history (“Do you have unprotected sex?” “Do you have multiple sex partners?” “Are you a man who has sex with other men?”) No one appeared as visually uncomfortable as I did, which kind of surprised me.

After we ask the basic health questions, we do height, weight, and blood pressure. It was great to actually figure out how to use the sphygmometer , and use my nutrition knowledge to actually understand what the BMI is supposed to indicate.

We also do finger sticks to test cholesterol and glucose levels (note: landscapers have calloused hands, which makes it pretty damn hard to get a good finger prick that’ll bleed), and, the coolest of all–I got to draw blood. The man we saw had great veins (I mean great ), and said he was willing to let me try for the first time, and I got it on the first try. There’s some sort of medical gratification that comes from doing a medical procedure that you’ve seen on television for years, and had done to yourself. Like the first time you learn any new skill–the sense of wonder when you get going on your bike without falling down, figure out how to throw the frisbee without having to apologize every time, or finally master a song you’ve been practicing on your instrument for weeks. Not that I’m expecting it to be easy, or that I’ll never have problems getting a vein, but the basic confidence of being able to do some sort of medical procedure feels great.

By this time tomorrow I’ll be back at the clinic, and I can’t wait. I’ve already begun work on two projects– redesigning the website and trying to somehow get a health insurance enrollment program started at the clinic. If you’ve got any suggestions on the redesign, or have any experience with California’s MediCal program, drop me a line or comment. Or if you’re a doc in the San Jose/Bay Area and interested in volunteering your Saturday morning sometime, we’d love to have you. Perks include working with idealistic medical students and premeds, and some damn good Vietnamese sandwiches and desserts for lunch.

Comments Off on Back to the Pacific