CONWAY, Ark. (December 13, 2019)
— A Spanish class that did more than satisfy a course requirement, an Odyssey
project that included volunteering in a hospice, and a 10-day stretch of
shadowing medical professionals in Spain have come together to bring one
Hendrix College senior’s career and calling into focus.
Looking back at these
experiences, Sarah Wilson’s acceptance in Fall 2019 as the first undergraduate
in the year-long Geriatric
Student Scholars program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
seems a natural outcome of her immersion in the liberal arts. She credits several
experiences since arriving at Hendrix in 2016 with helping her reach this point
in her path to becoming a physician.
A native of the northeast
Arkansas town of Trumann and a first-generation college student, Wilson chose
Hendrix because of the options the Odyssey
Program offered (and she cites the well-cared-for campus cat colony
as a bonus that helped seal the deal). She signed up for a Spanish course “to
get this language requirement done, because I thought I wanted to be a chemistry
major.” She soon realized, though, that her appreciation for the language and culture
could influence how she pursued a career in medicine.
After hearing Spanish
professor Dr. Gabby Vidal-Torreira share some of her experiences seeking
medical care as a non-native English speaker, Wilson realized her passion for
helping people understand each other could be used to provide better care.
“She was basically talking
about the nervousness that she felt whenever she went into a healthcare
facility in the United States,” Wilson said. “And I thought, ‘If I can just
take that uneasiness that they’re feeling, and put it off on me….’”
Wilson chose Spanish as her
major and continued taking classes in the pre-medicine pre-professional track.
She learns about the language, of course, but also about the growing and
changing culture—knowledge that will serve her well in the context of caring
for the Latinx population of geriatric patients in Arkansas.
The Geriatric Student
Scholars program, sponsored by the UAMS
Arkansas Geriatric Education Collaborative (AGEC), is designed to increase
health professions students’ interest and exposure to older adults, to improve
knowledge of older adults and the specialized care they need, and to promote
interprofessional collaboration among health professions students. Laura
Spradley, outreach coordinator for AGEC, credits the organization’s strong
community partnership with Hendrix and the involvement of AGEC director Robin
McAtee, Ph.D., RN, FACHE, as crucial factors in the decision to support an
undergraduate student scholar this year.
“The student had to
demonstrate an interest in the field of geriatrics, the issues facing older
adults, and a willingness to learn about interprofessional collaborations and
the role of community involvement in caring for older adults,” Spradley said.
“Sarah’s interest in geriatric medicine and in particular, rural healthcare in
Arkansas made her an ideal candidate.”
While Wilson plans to pursue
her M.D. and open her own geriatric-centered private practice in a rural area,
the Geriatric Student Scholars program serves a variety of future healthcare
professionals. For example, one member of this year’s cohort is in the
audiology program, and another is enrolled in the College of Pharmacy. All
members of the cohort plan on careers that consider the needs of the geriatric
population, but Wilson hopes to work exclusively with geriatric patients.
“That’s my target group; this is what I want to do,” she said.
Geriatric Student Scholars
have numerous opportunities to learn about the needs of the aging population. The
scholars attend a minimum of four events—though Wilson has signed up for twice
that many purely because the topics interest her so much. She recently attended
a seminar on considerations for seniors in the context of disaster response, and
a listening session with the Age-Friendly
Little Rock Commission that brought seniors to the table to help prioritize
the needs of their community. Upcoming events include one centered on how the
opioid crisis affects seniors.
Wilson’s first experience at
Hendrix relating to care for geriatric patients came through studying
end-of-life issues and volunteering in a hospice as part of the Odyssey
Program’s Medicine in
Society project. She applied to participate in Medicine in Society’s pilot
year because of her own experience: During high school, she had seen the
positive difference that hospice care made in her great-grandmother’s last few
months of life.
“[Hospice] gave me the gift
of being able to truly see my grandma happy as she was getting herself ready to
leave,” she said. Wilson appreciated having the ability to help others through
the Medicine in Society project in ways similar to how she and her family had received
help.
The Medicine in Society readings
assigned by philosophy professor Dr. Peg Falls-Corbitt included some options
for students to choose a topic that interested them.
“I read a lot about the
Hispanic geriatric community, and that’s where I learned that specifically in
the Hispanic community, taking care of that group of people is important,”
Wilson said. “As a Spanish major who wants to go into medicine, it was almost
like the piece just fell right in where it fit.”
She recalled an experience
volunteering at the bedside of a hospice patient who was bilingual and dealing
with dementia; the woman seemed to drift between her two languages. When the
woman spoke Spanish to the hospice staff, they began to look to Wilson for help
working through the language barrier. Wilson said that “just being able to go
in there with her and understand her, regardless of what place she was in, what
time period of her life she was in” reinforced the medical community’s need for
Wilson’s blend of skills and interests.
Sarah Donaghy, the coordinator
of community partnerships for Hendrix, says Wilson’s participation in programs
like Medicine in Society and the UAMS Geriatric Student Scholar Program embodies
how engaged learning dovetails with the Hendrix motto, “unto the whole person.”
Donaghy serves as the liaison between the Medicine in Society project and its
partner, Hospice Home Care, and also between Hendrix and the UAMS Geriatric
Education Collaborative.
“These kinds of experiences
build on each other and affirm or clarify academic decisions while also
influencing professional and life choices to come,” Donaghy said. “They also
open doors. Medicine in Society illuminated for Sarah an interest in pursuing
geriatric medicine, which led her to apply for the Geriatric Student Scholar
Program. Now, Sarah will not only further distill her interest in geriatrics
and expand her resume, knowledge, and skills, but also network with
professionals in the field and gain exposure to a medical school environment.”
Wilson followed Medicine in
Society with another Odyssey project that provided a window into physicians’ experiences
and more exposure to a bilingual environment. Thanks to Odyssey grant funding,
she spent 10 days working with hospital professionals in Spain. In addition to
speaking with doctors and patients, she spoke frequently with medical school
students. “They wanted to practice their English and I wanted to practice my
Spanish, and so we just traded off,” she said.
Wilson appreciates the variety
of experiences available to her through Hendrix, such as volunteer
opportunities that connect students with the Conway community. “Without that
exposure, I probably would’ve just pushed myself in to a chemistry degree,” she
said. She values the ability to follow the pre-med track while pursuing a major
outside the Natural Sciences area, and believes it enriches her overall liberal
arts experience and will ultimately benefit her medical career. Support from her
advisor, Spanish professor Dr. Lilian Contreras-Silva, makes all the difference
for Wilson, too, whether or not the challenge she’s facing relates directly to
her major. Contreras-Silva provided crucial encouragement when Wilson struggled
with biochemistry her junior year. “I was ready to give up the pre-med track
until she convinced me I could do it,” she said. “Any time I don’t feel 100%
confident in myself, I just go to her office or email her, and she’s beyond
supportive.”
With commencement on the
horizon, Wilson is making plans for a gap year while she applies to medical
schools. She hopes to find work as a medical translator during that time. She’s
also taking a Medical Anthropology course, where discussions focus on the need
for cultural competence and cultural sensitivity in healthcare. “Because you
can be culturally competent and know about the other culture without being
culturally sensitive,” she said. “That’s another reason why I really wanted to
be a Spanish major—not just for my future career, but also because if I can allow
a group of people to feel much more comfortable and much more understood,
that’s what I would like to do.”
About Hendrix College
A private liberal
arts college in Conway, Arkansas, Hendrix College consistently earns
recognition as one of the country’s leading liberal arts institutions, and is
featured in Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change
the Way You Think About Colleges.
Its academic quality and rigor, innovation, and value have established Hendrix
as a fixture in numerous college guides, lists, and rankings. Founded in 1876,
Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. To
learn more, visit www.hendrix.edu.