Since this January, I have visited Janet, a recently-blinded cancer patient, at her hospice care facility, where I assist her with orientation/mobility and provide companionship. Over time, I have found that she has grown more comfortable in our relationship, as she shares life successes and regrets, as well as feelings and fears about dying. Listening to Janet reflect, I have been better able to understand the challenges patients may face as they process losses caused by their terminal conditions. Specifically, meeting with her over the course of a long period of time has exposed me to both better and worse days, where our visits vary from light-hearted conversations about our favorite television shows and vacation spots to deep discussions on life. Given Janet’s condition, I have learned a lot about how losing sight affects a person. During one visit, Janet shared that she is sometimes saddened when she wakes up because she can see in her dreams but not while she is awake. Also, she has told me that occasionally she will think she is seeing people that are not really there, but recently has stopped questioning why. The opportunity to help guide them
through this journey has cemented my desire to pursue medicine and alleviate pain. Talking to Janet taught me that end-of-life patients experience an array of emotions, and that through compassion, I can support them and improve their quality of life despite no cure existing. Thus, in a medical school application, I would likely discuss how my interactions with Janet have helped me learn more about hospice care, and how these patients deal with their emotions during this difficult time. I would like to talk about forming long-term patient relationships, because, as an aspiring neurologist, I foresee seeing patients at various stages of their lives. Also, given that many neurodegenerative diseases have no cure, I believe that I will work with a lot of patients where I have to deliver tough news and have difficult conversations. I believe that my conversations with Janet have helped prepare me to better handle these kinds
of interactions as a compassionate and caring physician. I hope that my explanations of my experience with hospice care with embody how much I’ve learned and how it will help me become a better medical student and physician in the future. Hospice care has further contributed to my desire to attend medical school and pursue a medical career. Volunteering at a hospice care facility and seeing how they operate as well as interacting one-on-one with a patient has taught me the importance of this kind of care. I believe that this has highlighted a key component too often avoided in the discussion of medicine: the dying process. When I first started volunteering, I was a bit nervous and intimidated, as my other clinical care opportunities involve short-term meetings with patients. However, shortly after, I become comfortable and felt like I was making an impact on Janet’s day and overall well-being, which is something I truly value. Overall, I am very grateful for my hospice volunteering
experience and I look forward to continuing to visit with Janet weekly.