During my time in the pre-med Hospice program facilitated by Holisticare Hospice and the Athena Institute, I have developed a great passion for proper communication with patients, specifically those in dire need while receiving end-of-life care. This process has shown me the importance of treating end-of-life care as something critical for a proper conclusion to one’s life story. Without hospice, many patients face massive challenges and lack of personal attention that is currently attributed to end-of-life care in the United States. As hospitals and most doctors look to provide treatment after treatment to alleviate medical conditions, they often overlook what a patient may want: a calm and peaceful process before death.
I have spent the year visiting a patient, Robert, who has suffered from a debilitating disease that has left him bedridden. For years now, Robert has been confined to his gurney bed, stuck in a room with just the television and random passerby to communicate with. He has a great loving and supporting family, but they are not always capable of staying with him for hours at a time. The joy that I can bring this man simply by having an hour-long conversation with him has helped me realize the importance of treating patients as people more than just individual medical cases. From football to fishing, and family to politics and religion, this man has a lot to say before his time comes, and without anyone to listen, his story couldn’t be told.
Through the experience of thoughtful and meaningful communication with a patient, I have come to realize that my future calling to medicine will definitely involve intentionally addressing patients as friends and always treating them as people who deserve my best, both scientifically and emotionally. The Pre-Med Hospice Volunteering Program has kept up my desire to practice medicine and given me the drive to see what impact I will eventually have as a doctor. Witnessing how much great work can be done for those who need it most is extremely moving, and it has pushed me to never underscore the value of a quality interaction. I cannot speak to how much this program has opened my eyes to the importance of medicine and how much value I could add to the medical field if I were to be able to harness and spread the importance of proper hospice care.
I believe this program has increased what I bring to the table in medical school applications as it has provided me hands-on patient care in ways that are not otherwise easily attainable. Due to the regulation in medicine, it is difficult to interact with patients while still an undergraduate; however, it is a process that is crucial to deciding that one wants to become a doctor. Though these regulations are challenging to overcome, visiting hospice patients serves as a mechanism to impact patients while still being an undergrad. I couldn’t recommend a better program to determine one’s pathway toward or away from medicine. For many, it would be hard not to decide to practice medicine after participating in hospice volunteering.