Novelist Henry Miller stated, “One’s destination is never a place but a new way of seeing things.” With becoming a physician as my destination, my journey in medicine began with my birth in India. As one of the only female physicians in her district, my grandmother introduced me to many patients who were unable to attain proper medical care due to the caste system. This early exposure sparked both my interest in medicine and my awareness of the importance of being a healthcare advocate for my community.
Growing up in the small German town of Radolfzell, I was introduced to our family physician. Despite my initial language barrier, he never let my family leave his office without an understanding of our health status. Like my grandmother, he was also an advocate in healthcare, but more importantly, he displayed empathy toward his immigrant patients.
These experiences introduced me to what I believed to be the backbone of family medicine; empathy and healthcare advocacy for each citizen. I began my undergraduate and medical school career with the hope of becoming a physician who upholds these two values.
Leaving my family behind to complete basic sciences in the Caribbean, I attained not only a comprehensive education, but also personal and professional growth. These collective experiences provided me with the skills I needed to successfully complete my examinations as well as to advocate regular checkups and safe sexual practices for community members on the island. Throughout my rotations in Canada and the United States, I continued to learn about overall patient care, but found that family medicine clerkships and volunteering at family medicine clinics were the most rewarding.
Practicing family medicine in Canada, where the key principles of healthcare include comprehensiveness, universality, and accessibility, represents the type of medicine I have always hoped to provide for my patients. Current healthcare needs in Canada have shifted from infectious diseases to chronic non-communicable diseases. Consequently, a family physician has better opportunities to implement primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention strategies due to the longevity of their doctor-patient relationships.
My global journey has shown me many aspects of healthcare and instilled in me the importance that primary care can have, not just on an individual but also on a family and a community. Having worked and lived in both urban and rural communities, I enjoyed the familiarity and sense of togetherness between healthcare workers and community members, which greatly assisted in patient management.
As I take the next step in my journey to becoming a physician, I seek a family medicine residency program that emphasizes interpersonal relations and seeks to continuously improve the health care status of its community. I found this while working at Chatham Kent Health Alliance, where I had the opportunity to interact with faculty physicians. Their eagerness to teach and involve me in all aspects of patient care, including research, was a great representation of the opportunities available for me at all the other University of Western Ontario Family Medicine Residency program.
