Major Service Project

Asian Health Initiative

Volunteering at a clinic and/or hospital setting was something that I wanted to do coming into college in order to gain a better perspective into the medical field since I am on a pre-med path. I tried to volunteer at the Wexner Medical Center but it being a competitive access program to do so, I was unable to make it my freshman year. At the beginning of sophomore year, one of my friends who is now on the way to medical school posted about an opportunity to volunteer at the Asian Health Initiative Free Clinic on Monday nights at Thomas E Rardin Family Practice Center. It was organized by the Asian American Community Services organization in Columbus. It provides free health care to uninsured people of all races and not just of Asian descent. In my role there, I schedule patient appointments, help patient fill out informational forms, created and use a spreadsheet to keep track of expenses such as prescriptions needed for each day, and create patient files when needed. So far my experience has been great. It’s awesome to see how this program started by an Asian American community organization to help Asians has spread to help people of all races in the interest of maintaining the health of the community as a whole. I’ve been able to gain invaluable patient interaction time and in difficult language barrier cause situations. The clinic has volunteers from the medical school as well and seeing them talk to the patients, figuring out diagnoses, and consulting with the practicing physician has been very cool to see and allowed me to gain a better insight into what it would be like to be a physician. I’m still undecided as to whether to try to go to medical school or into the engineering industry and I know that the experiences here will help me decide in the future. I hope that alongside the healthcare professionals and students, I’ve been able to help provide needed healthcare to uninsured patients. These patients all were very grateful for the care they were given it has been really rewarding to be a part of it. In my time there, the coordinator Chin-Yin Shih has made a strong impression on me. She clearly cares a great deal about the health of the community from all the work she’s put into this program. She organizes all the volunteers from the medical school and the doctors to get the proper number of them each week, carries and organizes all the patient files, has to keep track of all the returning patients and follow up with them to make sure they’re doing as the doctors say, and calling the pharmacies and physicians that patients might be referred to to check on their progress. It’s truly amazing to see the dedication she has to seeing this program succeed and it’s contagious through the office. Because of this service experience, I have grown in interacting with patients, learned more about medical practice, and simply been a part of a needed public service that many of these patients rely on and I’ve been blessed to volunteer my time here.

Service Project – Asian Free Health Clinic

For my second year service project, I’m currently volunteering at the Asian Free Health Clinic provided by Asian American Community Services. They provide health services for people of all ethnicities that are uninsured and are in need of free healthcare. I currently create and maintain patient files, record data from visits, help patients fill out information forms, and schedule appointments. It is staffed by medical students  and a doctor who also volunteer their time to provide care.