Unveiling Silent Tragedies: A Story of Domestic Abuse

As I handed a blanket to a patient, the doors outside the room burst open. While this was a common occurrence in the emergency room, something felt extremely different this time. As the emergency medical technicians wheeled a patient in, she screamed in pain. Peering out of the room, I witnessed massive bruises and blood dripping down her face. Her clothes, tattered and torn apart, looked as if she was attacked by a beast. My heart broke for this woman, as the next phrase she screamed sent chills through my body. “My husband did this to me! Keep him away from me!” After checking in with the nursing station, I learned that this woman had been abused for the past five years, but never was able to tell anyone. She never visited a doctor, and

With a lack of transportation, lack of access to primary care physicians, loss of income due to time taken off to see a physician, and numerous other factors affecting these families, the emergency department becomes the only option. As a volunteer in an emergency room, I have seen this fact hold true on far too may occasions. Witnessing first hand such a short coming in medicine provided me with a sense of drive and purpose. While I knew I wanted to be a physician, I did not know what type of physician I wanted to be. As a primary care physician, I would be able to reach out to underserved parts of the community that are underserved, and provide them with care that they all

During my time as a student at Case Western, I assisted and helped start a group known as Athletes and Allies. This group focused on promoting inclusiveness and understanding throughout the athletic community, as well as programs to assist any athlete having difficulty coming out or discussing issues faced in the Case community. The volleyball program is the only team trained in understanding and inclusivity, or “safe zone” trained. In the future, we hope to provide more safe zone training to all teams, as well as more programs and opportunities to the LGBT athlete community. As a physician, I yearn to advocate for the LGBT community just as I did at Case, and provide a source of relief and understanding for LGBT