Health Fair Reflection

During the summer of my sophomore year in transition to my junior year, I earned the opportunity to take part in USC Keck Hospitals’ summer program. I was granted the opportunity to shadow and interact with health professionals. At the same time, I was trained to learn the nursing basics such as taking vital signs and understanding medical terminology. With this knowledge, for the past two years I have been able, and will continue, to volunteer in the American Diabetes Association (ADA) health fair in my underserved community of Los Angeles. In the ADA health fair I wear my uniform which consists of a burgundy smock, a crisp white collared shirt, spiffy black slacks, and my comfortable nursing shoes. I take much pride in being able to carry a stethoscope that has accompanied me in my journey to achieving my dreams. …show more content…
I am there since the start helping set up our booth, arranging the tables, sanitizing our tools, arranging our blood pressure cuffs, and setting up separate stations until the end of the health fair where I undo the process. Taking a person's blood pressure might seem very primitive to some but to me it is highly fulling that I am able to use my spare time informing others about their health which has inspired me to be a public health major. As I ask the person for their name I warmly introduce myself to give them comfort and security. Then I wrap the blood pressure cuff around their arm, listen to their heartbeat carefully particularly listening for their systolic and diastolic heart beat as I reflect on the importance of preventive health care.Besides being able to reflect on the career in which I would like to pursue, I am able to learn a lot about heart related diseases and the heart diseases or chronic illnesses that arise with high bold