Alba

Valeria Mendoza, MS3

I am in my last week of my OBGYN rotation and I can confidently say that this has been the most rewarding, exhausting and beautiful clinical experience in my medical career so far. I am doing my rotation at Mason General Hospital in Shelton near the South Sound area in Washington state. It is a small hospital, but we get patients from all around Mason and Grays Harbor counties. My previous rotation was in a big community hospital near downtown Seattle so transitioning to a rural setting like Shelton was somewhat challenging at first.

There is a large Guatemalan population in Shelton and a great percentage of the patients we see are Guatemalan women who have left their home country hoping for a better life for their children. I was born and raised in Honduras, so I felt a very special connection to them. I also left Honduras 10 years ago because my parents wanted a better life for my sister and me. Many of them have had multiple home births in Guatemala and are not familiar with the American healthcare system. Most of them have not had access to prenatal care before moving to this country. This is deeply saddening, but providing them with compassionate care has sparked a deep love and passion for OB/GYN.

I feel grateful to have had the opportunity to assist in nearly 20 deliveries. Each and every one of them has taught me so much about medicine, compassion, love, resiliency, and women empowerment. I am working with a group of providers that speak very limited Spanish, so I was able to help them communicate with non-English speaking patients. In the past few weeks, I have slowly become an advocate for this population. My role as a medical student has allowed me to spend more time with patients, and I have used it to try to truly connect with them and attempt to clarify any questions or concerns that they might have. Most of our Guatemalan women are so appreciative of the care that they won’t ask questions to providers even if they don’t understand much of what we do. I have found myself explaining cervical dilation or birth control options to women who have had multiple children. I feel it is my calling to provide quality care to women like them. Our home countries have failed to protect our women and children, and I would love to take care of them on this side of the border.

The very first baby that I got to deliver with minimal assistance was named Alba, which is Spanish for ‘dawn.’ Her mother was a G3P1010 from the Dominican Republic that was over the moon for her baby girl. I got to help her and share that joy with her. That is a feeling that I want to continue sharing with my patients. I think that her name was perfect because I felt like this rotation has marked the beginning of my great passion for OB/GYN.

I included a couple of pictures that I took throughout this rotation below.

I took this on a Sunday morning walk in Shelton, just a few minutes away from the hospital.

This was taken late at night at the Birth Center. Alisha, our midwife, was teaching a new pain-relieving position to the night shift nurses, and I was serving as the model.

About the Author:

My name is Valeria Mendoza and I am a third year osteopathic medical student at A.T. Still University School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. I am currently based in the Seattle area completing my clinical rotations. I was born and raised in Honduras and moved to the United States as a teenager. During my free time I enjoy hiking and spending time with my family.

About the Work:

This is a reflection paper I wrote at the end of my OBGYN rotation this year.