"Wanna See a Chunky Baby?"

One day in 2013 my parents and I were at a family friend’s house to celebrate their newborn, David. We didn’t have a chance to see them until the baby was about 2 months old. The parents said that the baby really clings to the mom and never likes to be held by anyone else. My parents decided to challenge that theory but David threw a tantrum. I could not help but to pay attention to the child the whole time we were there and found myself gravitating towards him. I kept moving closer and closer and played with him until I felt comfortable enough to pick him up. Everyone was startled when I leaned in to grab him, but we were all surprised to find that David was immediately drawn to me and gave me the biggest smile; his head fell on my shoulder and he stayed there until he fell asleep. As a child myself—at just 10 years old, this experience sparked my love for children and it has only grown since.

Today….deep breath….was the second day of rotations where I was assigned to Pediatrics-CPM (Center Pediatric Medicine)! Can you tell I am excited? As excited as I was coming in today, I was just as nervous. I came in having a lot of questions and really just wondering what it is like working with children in healthcare. I never had a close relationship with my pediatrician growing up because I saw her only twice, but I never felt like she cared about me when I did come in. You do not have to suffer from a terminal illness to feel cared for, so I really wanted to change my bias with the help of the physicians I shadowed today. Trinity and I walked in at 7:40am and waited for about an hour until we saw patients. We first met Dr. Brittany Williams, who is a third year resident and is about to finish her residency at the end of the month to start her outpatient job! She was really awesome and I got to talk to her some more throughout the day. I shadowed Dr. Etta Grace Nabors, who was also a third year resident but wants to work with inpatient care. After talking to both residents about what helped them choose whether they want to work, inpatient or outpatient, I had a clearer idea of their differences and made a chart below comparing and contrasting them.

Since the clinic I shadowed was considered a medicaid clinic, a lot of the patients were economically disadvantaged. The very first patient we saw was for a two months old checkup. What I noticed off the back was that those checkups were for the parent/guardian as much as it was for the child. Questions that were asked indicated food insecurity and Dr. Nabors worked with child services to provide plenty of resources. She brought the MOC (mother of child) a flyer with information about food boxes as well as a sheet with a list of food pantries. After speaking with child services, Dr. Nabor also learned that there is a program for food navigation that she can use to refer patients with food insecurity and the program then gets in contact with the patient for further assistance. There is also WIC (women, infants, and children) that is designed to help those with nutrition risk and provide healthy foods and other supportive needs like health education and breastfeeding support. Food stamps is another more commonly known food assistance method. With that being said, doctors' visits bring so much light to those who are vulnerable and share their desire for assistance. I was so incredibly touched by Dr. Nabors inclination to help. While in the child services office talking about the patient, I found goosebumps all over my body and felt myself tearing up. As a child of immigrant parents, I could feel exactly what that patient is going through. My parents always struggled to find the help they needed so I was incredibly happy to see the MOC walking out of the clinic with a huge smile on her face feeling relieved and less anxious about dinner tonight.

The next patient we saw was referred to us by an optometrist. Her parents do not speak fluent English so we got a Mandarin translator on the phone and went into the room. It was about a 13 year old girl who doesn’t have a primary care physician because she has never been seen by a pediatrician ever since she was born. Why? you may ask. Because her parents don’t have insurance. This was infuriating to me. Her parents were so convinced that they didn't need insurance because they were a healthy family with no health concerns. However, when this stops for the parents to bring in the child for regular checkups (at least twice a year), especially during the child’s developmental stages, it becomes hard to watch. The MOC said she would only get Medicaid, even though she was denied for it before. Child services looked up their 5 bedroom and bath house and clearly indicated they can afford insurance. In addition, the child was denied medicaid because she was born in the states (which I hated to hear). When I spoke to Dr. Nabors about how I felt after the visit, Dr. Nabors changed my perspective completely. She shared with me that her husband is half Asian so she is familiar with his heritage. His grandparents are very similar to the family we saw in the aspect that even though they can be wealthy, they still choose to live simply. For many people with the household income of the parents we just met, they would be embarrassed to come to a Medicaid accepted clinic for their prestige. But this family was humble enough to come to this clinic. I learned that the parents are simply hesitant to purchase something they will barely use and to open my eyes to see different perspectives before making any judgments. As a future healthcare professional, this is something I will always keep in mind to understand that everyone doesn't see from the same lens.

We saw a few more patients until about 12:30pm when Trinity and I decided to go grab lunch. Luckily, we were close to the Memorial Hospital so we went to get food from the cafeteria there. After we got our food, we got a message that some of our tier-mates were at the lounge for their lunch break too. So we walked over there and quickly ate to get a few matches of “around the world” and “skittles” in (timelapse at the bottom). It got pretty heated, shoes and jacket were definitely off at this point.

After an intense and sweaty few games, it was time to head back to Peds! Trinity and I had a debrief in the car about some of the things we saw already and how we felt, we were really excited to head back though. When we got back to the clinic, there were only a few doctors from morning shift and the rest started their shift after lunch. I hung out with Dr. Em (which was her nickname). She was so humble that she was so against me referring to her by her last name and by calling her doctor. I immediately had a great connection with Em. As many questions as I was asking her, she was asking me as many questions back. She genuinely cared to learn about me and what brought me here. We both have a lot in common, like moving to the states at an early age and being the child responsible for many things at an early age. After she was sharing her story, I told her that I really see myself through her. She touched my shoulder and said she does too. This was such a compliment and encouragement to remind me of where I am and my potential to end up like Em. As expected, the interactions she had with her patients were so heartwarming. She always made sure to sit eye-level with the patient. If the patient was sitting down, she not only would sit too but would move an empty chair over for me to sit too. She would also stop at times while she was with the patient to further explain what she was doing. She showed me what congenital melanocytosis looks like, walked me through an infant check-up exam, and shared constant techniques she used to calm her patients down.

What I really enjoyed about pediatrics was how holistic it is. There is such a variety with the questions that are asked to get a scope of a person. One of the patients that was getting established was asked if they have friends at school or if they are being bullied. Some questions the parents helped out with were regarding food insecurity, gun safety (where the clinic offers free locks), home condition, and whether or not they had transportation. I did not think a single of those questions would be important to get to know the patient. It was as detailed as whether the house had mold on it or if the child was sitting with other students at lunch. I JUST LOVE PEDS OKAY? Anyways, I fell in love with this rotation even more than expected and I can not wait to get more time with it.

Can’t wait for tomorrow!!

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/c57ec3_404bbf215aac455fbbdb2c5152e5349f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4