I Want To Be A Physician Assistant Essay

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Why I want to be a Physician Assistant

I come from a neighborhood that sends more people to prison than to institutions of higher education - one of San Jose’s “barrios,” an overlooked and predominantly Spanish-speaking community. In the barrio, violence, drugs, and poverty are facts of life. In the 3rd grade, I became aware of the inequities that surround my community. We got paired in class and asked to share how we spent summer. My partner said he had gone to Napa, CA to visit his grandpa’s vineyard, so I asked what “vineyard” meant. The look on his face questioned how anyone could not know that word, which made me feel dumb. Reflecting back, I realized it was not that I was dumb, but that I simply lacked exposure to such vocabulary. After all, no one in the barrio owned a vineyard.
Disparities like these extend into healthcare. The poorest get exposed to higher risk factors and, as a result, have higher rates of infectious and chronic illnesses, among other adverse outcomes. This topic touched home with me; it is one of the reasons I …show more content…

When I went to him, I was shocked to see his unrecognizable swollen body; a tube ran from his mouth to the ventilator that maintained his breathing. I had never considered studying medicine; yet, sitting beside my father, watching his vital signs, nothing seemed more natural. In each of my encounters with medicine, the PA who practices medicine as part of a team with physicians personifies all the roles I wish to fulfill. Helping my father and watching him in his recovery not only retained the focus of my interest in medicine but also made the desire to find a meaningful career in healthcare even greater. All of my interests have always led me back to medicine and deepened my resolve that I want to be a

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