Essay on Nutrition Counselor At Haven Free Clinic

It’s seven on a Saturday morning, and my first patient of the day as a nutrition counselor at Haven Free Clinic is a Hispanic male in his mid-50s. When I introduce myself to Jorge and try to get to know him better, he says little. Perhaps he’s shy or nervous, or he’s thinking about what he’s going to get his kids to eat after his appointment. I notice he has a keychain of a soccer team I know. I ask him how the team was doing and his face lights up. He tells me how it’s been a while since they won consistently and asks if I play. I nod and ask him, he does. We work to develop a regimen that he could follow to achieve his goals of weight loss and high blood pressure, which attribute to the worsening of his chronic ailment, which brought him to the clinic in the first place.

When I tell this story, and others like it, I reach into a particular topic, scene, or emotion as deep as I can to expand my understanding and its meaning in the human experience. A person’s story not only makes sense of their world, but also, provides a window into how others can better understand them and their lives. Physicians, in one form or another, actively work with the stories of patients, doing their best to understand their histories to provide a better future. My role in improving the health of all Texans is to preserve these stories for others the best I can in communities diverse in population and location. I plan to do this by finding efficient ways to communicate with my patients, and not…