Humble request for honest opinion

[ddiaz4]

Hi fellow PA forum members,

 

I am Diana, an MPH student hoping to progress to be a PA after my masters program is done next summer. I write for pleasure, but this has been the most difficult 5000 characters of my life. Perhaps you can relate! When something is so deep seeded inside of you, words sometimes don't serve to adequately capture all the feeling there is, all the motivations behind the chase. Ha, if I could start an essay that way, right? Anyways, I am the Queen of Long Winded, yet Surprisingly Grammatically correct sentences. Any suggestions most welcome. Good luck to everyone in their applications!! Hope to see you in interviews soon!

 

 

 

There is such immense pleasure in being able to see something, interpret it, and reproduce it. My tightly knit, highly opinionated, and deeply loved Cuban family wonders why I didn't become an artist. They see me, oft smeared in either clay, paint, or some combination of the two, laughing equally at either success or failure, as I step back from a project. Over many years of birthday parties at which I have painted faces or have done henna art, they say to me, "Why did you study science when you have such a gift for art?" I chuckle and jokingly agree I am the next Warhol knowing that, while there is palpable joy in every superhero mural I paint for my nephews and in the little faces that smile up at me in thanks of the "cool" design I have created on an arm, leg, or cheek, I hold a soul deep knowledge that my true art, true calling, lies elsewhere.

 

As my artistic skills began their rounds at family birthday parties for my oldest nephew, now 11 years old, my rounds in healthcare also commenced. Through a high school work study program at a local chiropractor's office I absorbed all the knowledge I could as I applied various forms of therapy on patients and alleviated strained muscles with mechanical massage, eventually entrusted by the doctor to instruct patients in their at-home care. There I first discovered my ease at the bedside and also the first revelation that having the tools to diagnose and address a patient's problem at its root would bring greater fulfillment to me than focusing solely on bedside care.

In subsequent positions within different indications, including optometry, psychiatry, pulmonology, and most recently, an experience in global health with HIV/AIDS prevention in pediatric populations in the Dominican Republic, I have found an endless fount of joy in patient care and advocacy. Though my positions are limited in scope and effect on patient outcomes, finding ways to assist people, be it via a simplified explanation of a Punnett square to a cystic fibrosis patient thinking about conception, explaining to an adolescent why sharing food with a person infected with HIV will not harm them, or distracting a fasting patient hours overdue for a test, brings a fulfillment to me no measure of brush strokes can replicate.

 

As I continue my graduate education in Public Health, I am driven by an intense desire to further amplify my direct impact on the wellbeing and clinical outcomes of those I am fortunate enough to serve. In pursuing the calling to be a Physician Assistant (PA), I hope to become an instrument to empower those I serve and work with to seek knowledge and health in a manner that improves their quality of life and that of others. The importance of primary care is personal for me, as facing undiagnosed health issues during my college years impacted my life personally and academically. A lack of consistent primary care while experiencing these health issues lengthened time to diagnosis and needlessly increased the impact on my quality of life. This experience engenders a deep, personal motivation to do all I can to make sure this does not occur for someone within my power to help.

 

In immersing myself in collaboration with the South Georgia Farm Worker Project (SGFWP) and in the months spent in communities along the north coast of the Dominican Republic for DREAM Project, I have been a part of making primary care accessible to populations of great need. For the migrant workers in South Georgia, the healthcare provided by the SGFWP is often the only time in a year that workers can access healthcare. In the Dominican Republic, working alongside DREAM Project and Peace Corps volunteers, people welcomed me into their homes, trusting me with the safety of their children and allowing me the privilege to answer their questions and give them information with direct impact on their health. These experiences have fueled my desire to continue to work with the underserved both at home and abroad, using my experience, passion, and faith to positively impact those around me.

 

My graduate training and many years of experience integrating seamlessly into several healthcare teams provides the resolute knowledge that as a PA I can make a substantial difference in the lives of my patients and fellow members in healthcare , while allowing my evolution into a leader for future members of the PA profession. My life, work, and educational and volunteer experiences have reinforced my strengths and helped me to recognize and overcome limitations, fueling my passion for understanding and helping others, and continually pushing me to elevate my knowledge as a means to help those around me. With these goals in mind, I continue what I know will be a life-long process of shaping myself, much like the clay thrown on the potter's wheel, working to create at the end of the process a competent clinician, patient advocate, and indispensable member of the healthcare team: a Physician Assistant.

[ddiaz4]

That bad? I'm submitting it it tonight, any thoughts are welcome, even if they are negative!!