There has been somewhat of a gap between this and my previous post, the reason being that it wasn't until last Friday that I started volunteering at San Jose Clinic. The whole clinic transferred to a new--really pretty, I must add--building five minutes from the UST campus, so things have been a little hectic for them in the last couple of weeks.
Due to the new facility, then, my first three hours of volunteering consisted in helping move furniture and file paperwork. During that time, however, Samantha, who is in charge of all volunteer-related affairs, introduced me to a few physicians that would like my help translating from English to Spanish, and vice versa; I learned from one of my conversations with Samantha that 90% of all patients are Hispanic and with little to no knowledge of the English language. This means I will be seeing some actual medical work as I help patients and doctors overcome the language barrier.
I inquired about the main diseases treated at San Jose, and it seems they specialize mostly in heart-related problems, diabetes, and obesity. They also have a neurologist volunteer there once a week, whom I may be shadowing the following month!
Lastly, I would like to add that the atmosphere at San Jose Clinic was welcoming enough for me to ask Samantha if I could volunteer for more than 10 hours, to which she replied "absolutely!" So, actual clinical work this Friday and many others to come.
- Yamal
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