Gundersen/St. Clare Internship Blog
This summer I had the honor of working with both the Gundersen health system in their hospital and with the St. Clare Health Mission non-profit free clinic in La Crosse Wisconsin. This was an interesting experience for me because I worked in conjunction with these two healthcare centers both providing me with an array of vast experiences. On the Gundersen side, I spend all of my time as an observer shadowing eight different departments within the hospital learning more about what a medical professional does in their respective departments. I met various physicians and was able to learn about the different aspects of healthcare from these eight different perspectives. While I had an observational role with Gundersen, my role with the St. Clare clinic was hands-on. During my time with the St. Clare clinic, I served as a translator between patients and medical staff ensuring that there were no language barriers when it came to the adequate healthcare of Spanish-speaking patients. I also went on to do some research, in the form of interviews, with Spanish-speaking patients on their perceptions and fear of diabetes, diabetes medication, and what health systems, such as St. Clare, can do to help these patients with overall better healthcare services. My final role with the clinic was participating in and helping coordinate the Mobile Medicine Program that St. Clare runs. This program consists of a bus that has been modified to have two medical rooms and contains the equipment necessary to provide general medical care to the population of La Crosse that cannot afford health coverage which consists of the homeless population and immigrant families. This bus drives around the city of La Crosse and goes to these patients ensuring that this uninsured population receives basic medical services.
My experience with both Gundersen and St. Claire gave me insight into a realization that not many are aware of. This realization is that a majority of the healthcare systems in the United States have catered to those who can afford it or have the means to, such as via insurance. As such many students working to become medical professionals have only been exposed to this aspect of medicine and failed to realize the other side of a population that medicine also serves too. This other population is those who cannot afford it and whose low socioeconomic status has only propagated their poor health. Thus, when students are first exposed to this side of medicine they are astonished to learn how something of that manner is happening in their own country and to some, how it’s happening in their own communities. The insight I’ve gained from this experience is that we as students on the path to becoming medical professionals need to be exposed to this realization as soon as possible on our own accord. Many are exposed to this but only after already being years into their studies by their educational system. If we as students take it upon ourselves to be exposed to this realization early on then we can learn about the faults in our own healthcare systems and work much sooner to help change it for the better.
Aside from an educational and professional perspective, on a personal level, this experience allowed me to realize that as a student in the process of becoming a medical professional, I want to work to help cater to the medical needs of the population who cannot afford it and are in dire need of it. Every day of this internship experience I woke up and went to bed in a good mood
because I knew that I helped someone in need. The amount of gratitude that I received daily from all the patients that I helped solidified that the line of work that I want to do in the future revolves around helping the less fortunate because I knew that I was doing my part in making the community I served a better place.
Lastly, I’d like to take the time to thank everyone that made this experience as impactful as it’s been. Thank you to Sandy Brekke and Jason Larson for giving me the amazing opportunity to be an intern, for their mentorship, and for allowing me to work alongside them in serving the La Crosse community. Thank you to Kayla Kemp, RN for her mentorship and the honor to work alongside her. Thank you to Edith Ben-Eboh for the privilege to work alongside her and for her never-ending help during my time with St. Clare. Thank you to Dr. Sarah Brown for the honor to work alongside her and learn more about family medicine. A thank you to all the staff at St. Clare and Gundersen who I had the privilege to work with. I’d also like to thank Drs. Scott ’84 and Mary Rathgaber for their generosity and openness during my eight-week stay in La Crosse. Thank you for providing a home away from home and for taking me in as if I was part of the family. This truly has been an impactful and unforgettable summer experience.
