"Team of the Week" January 29th- Not an Actual Team

Hello everyone! 

For clinic on 1/29, we decided to do something a little differently than the traditional Team of the Week. 

Our translator ended up not being able to come to clinic, and that could have been a huge issue if we didn't have two amazing student doctors step up to the plate, Aixa Navia and Ashley Ulker. These women graciously allowed their teammates to take care of their patients in order to serve as ad hoc Spanish translators for the other teams in clinic.

(Left to right: Ashley and Aixa)

We asked these ladies a few questions:

How does Promise Clinic help you connect with the Latino community while helping out New Brunswick's Spanish speakers? 

Ashley (M2)- "Promise Clinic is a great way to connect RWJ students with the Latino community of New Brunswick, and enables us to feel like we are a part of it in a very tangible and meaningful way. As we know, effective communication is arguably the most crucial aspect of practicing medicine. We inevitably encounter barriers that might make communication with our patients more challenging every day: cultural barriers, socioeconomic barriers, language barriers, etc. Promise Clinic gives us an opportunity to hopefully chip away at these barriers and in doing so strengthen our relationship with the surrounding community." Aixa (M2)- "Due to the high percentage of Latinos living in New Brunswick, Promise Clinic has become a great way to interact with the Latino population.  Interestingly, the majority of the Latino population comes from the same area of Mexico.  So there is a real sense of community among the population.  As a student doctor at Promise Clinic, one can see the sense of community among the patients.  Additionally, since most of our patients are Spanish speaking, Promise Clinic offers the student an opportunity to practice speaking the medical spanish that is learned through our Medical Spanish elective offered at RWJMS." How long do you think you'd last in the Hunger Games? Ashley (M2)- "I'm horrible at running for long periods of time, but I am good at hiding and scaring people... maybe the element of surprise would work in my favor? That being said, probably not too long!" Aixa (M2)- "Haha oh man. I think I would definitely be in the last 5 contestants. I can get pretty competitive when it comes to physical challenges. So, I can only image what I'd be like if my life was on the line. Also, I'm small so… that will definitely help me hide in places that hopefully the taller people can't get to." Well there you have it! These women not only have the brains but the humor too! Thank you for helping us make sure ALL of our patients can get the help they need, regardless of the language they speak. Until next time, xoxo Promise Clinic