Week #7

Sara Johnston
29 March 2007
MIDS 201

Journal Entry #7

Today was a busy Clinic day. It was also the longest I’ve ever stayed at the Clinic at one time- over 3 hours. The reason it ran so late was not that there were a lot more patients than normal, but that none of the doctors showed up on time. One doctor was supposed to be there at 3:30 and another at 4:00, but both did not show up until close to 5:00. Appointments started at 3:00. I know that these doctors work all day long, and then come and volunteer their time at the Clinic, but if they are going to be late, would a phone call hurt? One patient, the first one in line, was supposed to be at work at 5:00. That was the time she finally got to see a doctor, after waiting for 2 hours. This got me to thinking about a large political issue- nationalized healthcare. The benefits of free or very cheap healthcare are obvious- everyone will have access to the medical attention that they need. The drawbacks are not so obvious- if many more people are now needing those same, limited amount of services, there will be a lot of waiting around for them. People in Canada come to the U.S. and pay for medical services so they can get them in a timely fashion. Should these people at the Community Clinic have to wait extra-long to see a doctor just because they have lower incomes than the rest of us and can’t afford insurance?


I also got to go around with Dr. A today. We only saw a few patients, and I didn’t do much but observe, which is still a very valuable learning experience- just listening to patient-doctor interactions.


There was also something I noticed today: when we, the few Honors students, started volunteering at the Clinic, there was a high school girl there. After our being there a couple of Thursdays, she has not been there since. I wonder if we scared her off, or if she felt like she wasn’t needed anymore. I would hope that volunteers wouldn’t offend other volunteers. You would think that an excess of volunteers would be better than a shortage, but perhaps not if older volunteers feel threatened by newer ones.