Guest Speaker NP Sofia

NP Sofia shared about her career and her current student life as she is a seminary student. Rather than focusing too much on career, however, she spoke about taking a pause, connecting it to the Sabbath Year in Leviticus 24:1-7 when God tells the Israelites to pause, to Mark 6:31 when Jesus tells the apostles to rest, and Luke 10:38-42 in the contrast between Martha the anxious toiler and Mary who was resting and listening to Jesus. As the students are restlessly working towards their healthcare goals, it is easy to forget to rest–to take a pause. Instead of constantly working and saying everything is for God, it is important to see the difference between working for God and working with God. Working with Him will also encompass working for Him, and there will be time to enjoy the moment. Being with God, we can bring our worries and negative emotions to Him, asking Him to walk with us rather than taking our worries away.

Selah: “Pause and think calmly on that.”

Case Studies and Ultrasound Workshop with MD student, Jennifer Nam

MD student Jennifer Nam went over a couple case studies to introduce UCI GMMA members to FAST Scan, an essential way to check for internal bleeding in the ER using ultrasound. She gave a demonstration on how ultrasound works using a portable ultrasound machine that connects to her phone! Students were also able to try the ultrasound machine on 4 different parts of the body to see organs like the spleen, kidneys, lungs, a BEATING heart (!!!), and eyes!

GM #4: Understanding Mental Health through the Lens of the Gospel

• 1 suicide every 15 minutes
• 38,000 suicides in the US each year
  • 90% of suicides related to mental illness
• 30% of all disability from all medical causes can be attributed to mental disorders (major depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, etc)
• ⅕ people suffer from a mental illness currently
• 50% will have onset by age 14, and 75% by age 24
• Psych: Greek word “Psukhe”
  • Breath, life, soul, mind/reason
  • Genesis 1:27-28 (image of God, Genesis 2:7)
• The Genesis 3 Incident:
  • • Before the incident, everyone was blissful and mentally level
  • After following the lie of Satan, it lead to a fatal independence from God; led to a captivity of the spirit/mind/soul by Satan
    • Inhabited by sin
      • Changed identity to child of the devil (not because of a sinful life, but because of the INTRODUCTION of sin)
    • Natural consequences of curses such as mental problems
• Good News: Salvation in Jesus Christ
  • Trying to be good to others, trying to be a good person
    • Is not a BAD thing, but it’s INEFFECTIVE
      • Impossible to take out sin and Satan’s control without God’s help
  • Spirit of God enters; a gift not to be paid for, but to be received
  • Sin removed
  • New identity: child of God
  • Remaining body/mind/spirit state
    • Our mind is part of the flesh
• “In God’s economy, if He paid for you, He paid for you; once you’re adopted, you’re forever adopted”
• All people are susceptible to mental suffering, from mild temporary symptoms to severe disease chronic states
  • Flesh level has a sickness; sin is not in the spirit—it’s a battle of the flesh with the spirit

Thank you to Dr. Esther Park and Oak Health Foundation for bringing an evangelistic message about mental health to UCI GMMA!! UCI GMMA members also received their cute shirts after the meeting 🙂

Thank you to everyone who came out to our meeting, especially our grad panelists who took the time out of their busy schedules to share their journey to where they are today! Here are some of the advice that they had shared with us.

Karo, third year (D.O):

• School
  • 1st and 2nd year is mostly in the classroom while 3rd and 4th are clinical rotations
  • Work with a different specialist each rotation
  • Schedule varies based on the doctor or whatever the hospital has sent to you; typical hours are from 9-5
• Why he chose his field
  • Enjoyed biology and chemistry classes
  • Explored different fields with volunteer opportunities and lab and found himself as a natural fit
  • Enjoyed working with the clinicians
• Advice
  • Take what you learn and apply it to the real world

Audrey, gap year (Pre-med):

• Wants to do medicine and law
  • Dermatologist (own products and patent)
• Postdoc at UCLA for science classes
• Currently a medical assistant at a cardiologist clinic; gets 40 clinical hours a week
• Why she chose her field
  • Passionate about what she’s doing
    • Loves reading, writing, makeup and skincare
  • GMMA mission trip helped her; hoping to go on more mission trips in the future
• Advice
  • Dream big, if you want to do something, go for it
  • Think broadly and be creative with what you want to do in the future
  • Think longterm on what you’re going to do in the future; be passionate about it

Serena, first year (PT):

• Currently doing mostly didactic courses
• Why she chose her field
  • Went into undergrad thinking she would become a doctor
  • Did an internship for different careers
  • Ultimately chose PT to have a relationship with her patients and to continue to be active

Eveline (Nurse):

• Got license as a nurse and is currently working as a patient caregiver (personal nurse for the family)
• Why she chose her field
  • Originally wanted to be a pediatrician but saw how the nurses were the ones who were interacting and taking care of the patients
  • Didn’t want to do all the years of school if she were to pursue pediatrics
  • Many options that comes with nursing
    • Business, teaching

Joanne (DH):

• Dental hygiene program at USC; overall hygiene and health of her patient (health of mouth, gums, oral health)
• 2 year program; Associates, Bachelors, or Masters
• Currently applying to DDS
• Why she chose her field
  • Originally premed (pediatrician)
  • Took intro to Occupational Therapy and enjoyed it; wanted to become an OT but her parents were not okay with it
  • Liked the aspect of helping older adults
  • Initially forced into dentistry, but gave it a try and volunteered and shadowed dental students
• Advice
  • You can go into the health field even with a bad GPA! You may have to work harder and it may take longer, but it will be okay!
•  

FELLOWSHIP

A couple of our members and post-grad, Audrey, went to UTC for fellowship! 

Nurse Eveline Jho and fellow UCI alum taught us how to do an IV injection, one of the more simple injections that nurses have to do. We provided insulin, alcohol swabs, needles, and oranges in order to practice giving the injection. She demonstrated by:

1. Taking the cap off the needle provided and injecting it into the insulin
2. Carefully putting the cap back on the needle by putting the cap on the table or a flat surface and scooping it back on the needle. Once the cap is on the needle, push it down and secure it.
3. Use the alcohol swab to clean the orange
4. Take off the cap and make sure there are no bubbles, if there is, tap the needle on the side until there are no more bubbles
5. Inject the needle into the orange
6. Once insulin is injected, put the cap back on in the same fashion stated in step 2.
7. You’re all done!

Here are some pictures of our members giving in injection to their “patients”

Thank you Nurse Eveline for teaching how to do an injection!

Kwang Kim gave a presentation about how we should format our resumes, what activities we should put, what we should exclude, and even showed his very own resume!