On Sunday November 3 from 12pm to 5pm, I attended my first RAM Clinic. I am a member of Global Brigades, and I did this trip with a few other members. We drove up to Warsaw, Virginia where the RAM Clinic took place. The Ram itself took place in an elementary school, and the clinic ended up helping over 500 people providing $235,419 in medical services. Global Brigades ended up being a part of the cleanup of the clinic because it was the last day of RAM. We were placed in the dental unit which was set up in the school’s gym. It was a lot of physical work, but it was all worth it. It was amazing to see the things that people can pack up in order to transport from place to place (like a whole dental clinic). Without the teamwork of Global Brigades and the other volunteers at RAM, the clinic wouldn’t have been possible specifically because it had to be cleaned up. Before I even went on the trip I had to become Bloodborne pathogen trained, so on top of my experience physically at RAM, I am also now BBP trained. 

Remote Area Medical Clinic is a major nonprofit provider of free mobile clinics. Their mission is to prevent pain and alleviate suffering by providing free, quality healthcare to those in need. They provide services such as free dental and vision (and others). The needs of the community that they address are those with the inability to access affordable health care. They do this by providing these free pop up clinics. 

Reflecting on my service-learning, my values have changed in a way that makes me more grateful mainly because many of the patients that attended RAM most likely are only able to get those treatments because of this provider. If it weren’t for the free services provided many of these people would still be in pain and may never be able to get the treatment that they need. I am more thankful mainly because of the fact that I am able to afford most medical services that I need, and it is important for me to not take advantage of that because not everyone has access to what I have. 

This was my first experience with medically related volunteer work. It has impacted my desire to pursue a career in nursing mainly because there are people that rely on clinics like the one I volunteered at for the medical services I have access to any day that I need them. I only participated in the clean up portion of the clinic, but being there made me wish I could do more than just that. Experiences like these just show me how much nursing really does appeal to me and how much I want to help the people around me. 

RAM clinic provides free medical services and nursing falls right into line with those services. Nurses are the ones that are primarily hands on with patients, so they were most likely the ones handling the patients at the clinic. Because this clinic provided free medical services to those in need,  my intended career field relates to this heavily. The human services degree could also fall right into this because they may have to talk to those apart of human services to determine how needy a certain population/area is over another when placing the clinics. If I were to choose a parallel major it would be one in human services. This is because human services falls right into line with helping people, and that is a huge reason why I want to pursue a career in nursing. If I were to pursue a career in human services, I would want to become a social worker. This is because you can help a wide variety of people, just like you can in nursing. With social work I would be dealing with the more mental area of things rather than the medical aspect. 

My study habits have evolved slightly over the past 14 weeks.  I didn’t spend hardly any time studying at the beginning of the semester, mainly because most of the things I had been learning were a review. I wasn’t receiving the grades that I wanted, and, as a result, I try to study at least two hours in total before an exam (this time is usually spread out throughout the week). Although, this is not much I am realizing I need to study more as classes continue to get more challenging. My study habits haven’t changed much. I use flash cards, and I do a lot of practice quizzes and tests. The only thing that has really changed is that I like to try and teach people what I know to help me better prepare myself for exams. I use study techniques specific to each class. I use flashcards and practice questions mainly for chemistry, I like to use flashcards and reviews for literature and sociology, and I like to plan out my essays for history because she gives us the questions. My techniques and habits are slowly developing. 

At the beginning of the semester I expected that college would be miserable, never ending, intense, and consisting of a crazy workload. A resource that I have found most helpful this semester is the Learning community as a whole. I’ve made study groups and friends. I feel like I can always ask questions that I’m sure I would struggle with without the L.C. It has helped me to become more involved in the community. It has also helped me to transition better as a freshman in college, and it has given me a peer mentor which a very useful source. One activity that I found to be unhelpful was the scavenger hunt from the beginning of the year for Health because for the most part I don’t remember where anything is. Something I wish I knew 14 weeks ago is that college isn’t as scary as it seems because it would have saved me a mental breakdown or two. A few resources I have learned about this summer are the math and science resource center and the writing center. Math and science tutoring is a great resource that I will make use of when I take Statistics in the spring. I will also use the writing center for next semester when I am taking philosophy.