Reflections upon My Term of Service and Moving Forward

This past weekend, I found myself chatting with a family friend about my next steps in medicine and public health. We met at a bookstore and café in my hometown near the campus of the university where my friend teaches public health. The last time we’d seen each other was after my first year of college, when I had just decided to pursue a career in medicine. My interest in public health was certain, but my understanding of the field was pretty rudimentary. I remember doing a lot of listening during that conversation because I wasn’t sure how to talk about the seemingly nebulous discipline that I thought of as public health.

Fast-forward to last weekend. Listening to our conversation about current topics in public health, including Medicaid expansion, a lack of insurance options for undocumented residents of the United States, and the ethics of restricting access to medical treatment for some groups of people but not others, I was struck by how I grounded my thoughts in the experiences I have had during my term of service with the Philadelphia Health Corps. Helping uninsured patients access medication through Patient Assistance Programs has made tangible the health systems and interventions that I found abstract four years ago.

My decision to join the Philadelphia Health Corps after graduating from college was fueled by a desire to learn about the health care in the United States outside of a classroom. I needed a break from being a student, though I wanted to keep learning about current affairs in public health and medicine from within a community health center. I believed that in doing so, I would gain insights into health care delivery that would enable me to approach my future medical education with a broadened understanding of what providing medical care to high-risk, socioeconomically vulnerable patients requires. Like any health care provider, I’ve encountered systematic and personal hurdles this year, but I’ve also gained an understanding that I will take with me in my medical career of the complexities of public health and health care delivery in the United States.