 When
I was 8 years old, my grandmother fell and fractured her arm.
Somehow seeing this special, caring, and loving person in this
condition inspired me to become a physician, a dream that remained
strong into my teens. But with only a single mom’s salary
supporting all of us, the dream of college, let alone medical
school seemed impossible. Until fate intervened. Our family moved
to the United States, where our parents were going to give one
last go to their on again, off again, attempts at rearing the
family together….
Upon completing high school, I worked full-time secretary at
NYU, in the Eastern Studies Department, a position that I loved
for the intellectual stimulus it provided, and it allowed me to
take evening courses practically for free. The dream finally reached
fruition when that same university accepted me into their medical
school on scholarship. In medical school, I enjoyed all of my
clinical rotations, but most of all, I loved taking care of children.
I have found taking care of young people to be a special kind
of challenge that has special rewards, one that I have pursued
into a full-time career in pediatrics. 
But I don’t just want that dream of healthy children to
be here, where I live and work in the Connecticut. My grandmother’s
inspiration is still with me, telling me that with faith and love
anything can be done. That anything has become HealtheClinic,
a place where people can work together, to make it possible for
everyone access to community-based healthcare. The idea is to
help bring people together from all over to do what they can,
when they can, to enable people to take care of themselves. Which,
when I think about it, is not that much different from what my
grandmother did. |
