Personal Statement - several drafts in

[MMuela]

Please give me any advise you have - be honest

 

Catastrophe brings with it opportunity. In my case, a moment of revelation crystalized my life’s ambition. My father has been secretly and slowly dying for decades, a reality he worked diligently to conceal. I knew something was amiss, frequent colds and various infections plagued him. When I was seventeen he revealed the truth; he had contracted HIV and Hepatitis C, and planned to return to his family in Spain, where a more liberal medical community offered advanced treatment options. In that moment, I wanted the ability and knowledge to assist my father, and deliver some measure of relief, but there was nothing to be done other than lament the circumstance. I was crushed. However, this terrible moment was my catalyst into medicine, a starting point for a for my life’s journey.

 

Immediately after completing high school, I enrolled in EMT training. There I found confidence, accomplishment as a student, and first discovered how fascinating and rewarding the field medicine is. I began working on an ambulance and eventually pursued a more advanced position as a paramedic. The triumphs and tragedies I have experienced over a fifteen-year career reverberate across time, and I can feel them now. By the virtue of my position, I witness moments of true vulnerability, where patients share incredibly private pieces of themselves in life-altering circumstances. The result of my experience is that I am exceptionally prepared, and passionate about a career in medicine. My time in EMS has been invaluable and has shaped the caregiver I am today. 

 

However, paramedics do little to affect the grand scheme of a patient’s life; called only when catastrophe strikes, a paramedic’s assistance may be lifesaving, but there is no mechanism to participate in preventive or long-term healthcare. I want to be a physician assistant because I want more - more responsibility, more knowledge, more ability, and more opportunity to affect the life-long care of patients. Being a physician assistant in family care is appealing because of the empowerment and opportunity that accompanies serving as a primary caregiver.

 

Over the last two years, my experience at Coachella Valley Volunteers in Medicine as a Medical Assistant has granted me a glimpse into primary care. This clinic exists on the boarder of two very different, but interdependent worlds; a bustling, industrial community, and just a few miles a way there are expansive agricultural fields filled with labors. Volunteers in Medicine services members of both communities that qualify as socioeconomically depressed, and are otherwise without access to regular healthcare. I have seen the remarkable impact primary care providers have on their patients and on the community, and it has been a tremendous opportunity to witness the value of exceptional care. I have observed many qualities that make an outstanding physician assistant, but the ability to draw upon previous medical encounters, while maintaining the flexibility to be diverse in one’s approach is an imperative skill. In this way, the time I have spent as a paramedic would serve to strengthen me as a physician assistant largely because both work independently, with significant amounts of autonomy, while simultaneously existing as a member of a team. Both are capable of developing a differential diagnosis with a correlating treatment plan, or have the ability to consult with their partnering physician whenever necessary.

 

During the course of my journey, I cultivated a number of skill sets and refined my guiding beliefs in various roles. I enlisted in the Air Force Reserves where the core values of excellence, integrity and service have informed and inspired my emergence as a competent and successful student. Still I am cognizant of these morals as they continue to shepherd my academic performance, and daily interactions. Over a decade in the medical field, in various capacities, as well as a plethora of life experiences have provided level of focus and maturity that I was sorely lacking in academics. With the passage of time, and wisdom gained I have immersed myself in the scholastic world with a profound commitment to my education and to becoming a physician assistant.

 

Whatever the challenges I’ve encountered; watching my father face his mortality, returning to school, becoming a parent of three incredible boys, or facing the everyday obstacles associated with balancing work, life, and scholarship, all make me stronger, more prepared, and supremely dedicated. Despite the trepidation that enveloped me when my father first told me of his diagnosis all those years ago, his outcome has been favorable. I want to provide the same kind of impactful, and thoughtful care that has provide my father. As a physician assistant, I would be poised to affect so many lives through the empathetic and dedicated treatment I would provide.

[paproof]

Overall I think you've got a great message here.  The drive to provide primary care secondary to personal experience has a resounding effect on most people because it's so relatable. I'd like to see a little more of your time shadowing PAs and showing you know what you're getting yourself into... but good job.

[kargiver]

Get rid of the opening line.  It is a truism and one I an disprove in one sentence.  This suggests to me faulty logic.  And I don't want that in my classroom as a student.