Lo que es mejor: My Year with the National Health Corps Philadelphia

I came into this service year hoping to establish a community like the one I found as an undergraduate at Villanova. Having a sense of community was a vital part of my experiences and I had developed a sense of reliance on this way of being. I was seeking a cohort of members that were not only like-minded in their interests in public health and integrative medicine but members that were also equally as passionate about getting to genuinely know and support one another as we grew together from this experience. However, what I came to find was a new kind of experience—one that has inspired and transformed me more than I could have foreseen. 

My service year with NHC has introduced me to so many new people—professionals and peers alike—and happenings around Philadelphia. From significantly improving my Spanish language skills by working with a Spanish-speaking population to attending public health symposiums and events throughout Philadelphia, I’ve gained a lot from my service year. My new experiences have been such a pleasant surprise to me because, as a Philly native, I thought I knew this city incredibly well before this year. However, NHC has afforded me a new sense of independence, self-reliance, and awareness within the city I call home and beyond. This sense is one that has risen from new relationships with peers and professionals, experiences that have expanded my perspective on urban health disparities, policies, and practices, and realities that I could not have understood from a classroom experience.

These professional development opportunities were incredibly impactful, but a majority of my service hours were spent as a Patient Advocate with the Prescription Assistance Office at Health Center 10 in Northeast Philly, one of the largest and most diverse health centers in Philadelphia. At service there are always administrative tasks, paperwork, and mandatory audits that had to be completed for the office to be run efficiently. However, it was the interactions and relationships I established with patients that proved the most significant for me. At Health Center 10, the Prescription Assistance office is located in the administrative end of the building. Many patients often found themselves in my office or lingering about the hallway, eagerly waiting for “Aisha, from the PAP office,” or, as a particular favorite of mine would say, “Aisha de la oficina de PAP.”

This patient, an older male in his early seventies, is known as “Hugs” by others around the health center for his warm and affectionate hugs of gratitude/ Hugs speaks very limited English. When I first met him back in October, we oft struggled to communicate. I would wait upwards of half an hour for the Spanish interpreter to make his rounds because I felt too insecure and ill-equipped to effectively communicate everything Hugs needed to know about his medications. I had communicated that I spoke Spanish proficiently but that I preferred to wait for the interpreter to make sure he fully understood everything he needed to know and Hugs was always very warm, accommodating, and understanding. Every time he came in, he would start telling me stories about himself, his health, his family, his country, and his experiences. He knew I understood him well, regardless of the fact that my minimal responses consisted of phrases like, “Ay dios mio!” or “de verdad?” He actually found it quite funny that I was trying so hard to engage in a conversation with him. It was endearing for him to have someone at the health center that was making such an effort to try and understand him and equally as exciting for me to be speaking effectively with a Spanish-speaking patient. As my service term continued and Hugs returned for his medications, I became increasingly more comfortable with speaking to him without an interpreter and this was such a valuable learning experience for me. Not only was Hugs always so grateful when he would see me running around from my office to the physicians and back to help accommodate whatever services he needed, but he would always compliment my efforts to communicate with him, reassuring me that my Spanish speaking skills were much better than I knew. “Ten confianza,” he would say. He started referring to me as his “nieta,” or granddaughter, whom he had told me many stories about, and would only leave after the kindest string of gracias and blessings for me. And of course, after giving me a hug.

Outside of the professional development opportunities and resources this service term has introduced me to, it is relationships and patient interactions like these that have inspired me in so many ways. I just saw Hugs last week for what would be his last visit before my service term ends. I explained to him that there will be new faces in “la oficina de PAP” to serve him as he strives to improve his health conditions. It is moments like these that serve as reminders that working as a medical professional will be difficult and challenging at times. When you see a patient through their care for about a year, you grow attached in ways that are beyond you. You get them know them as people, not patients, making the separation all the more emotional. However, it’s equally as important to realize that regardless of where I go next, I will touch new hearts that will change me, and others, in new ways as I continue to do what is best, or “continua hacer lo que es major” as Hugs told me during his last visit. My service year with NHC has taught me that, regardless of how temporary this experience may have been, it is what I have learned and how I have grown over the course of this past year that will continue to make this experience a deeply rooted part of who I am.
 

This blog post was written by NHC Philadelphia member Aisha Chughtai.
Aisha serves as a Patient Advocate at Philadelphia Department of Public Health-Ambulatory Health Services: Health Center 10.