Personal Narrative: Autistic Child

There is one particular experience which undoubtedly brought to light the idea that many people face daily struggles. This encounter occurred when I helped treat an eight-year-old, autistic boy. The child was nonverbal, and arrived with a persistent fever of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. As an autistic child, he was easily stimulated by sensory perception, and also struck with fear from having his temperature taken. Regrettably, we had several other things we needed to do for him. His ears required cleaning and we needed to get chest x-rays. Since there was no definite way of communication, the job became especially challenging, and he often screamed or tried to run away. In the end, we were able to gather scans and rule out things like bronchitis, influenza, and pneumonia. This experience did many things, such as …show more content…
I also had another healthcare experience which sensitized me to the idea of how fragile life actually is. A homeless man, my age, walked into the clinic feeling nauseous. His name did not register with me until I saw his face as he left. I quickly realized I had went to school with this man who is now homeless. My heart instantly sank, and I could not help but think that maybe if I had done one more thing, like say hi to him more often in the hallway, then he may not have ended up in this situation. Just seeing someone I knew in a difficult spot, at such a young age, has prompted me to want to make more of a difference within the community.
The most eye opening experience I have had in healthcare, so far, occurred within the first months at my job. I arrived at the clinic one day for splinting class and we had planned to go over placing different types of casts. The class was 3 hours long, and afterwards I went into work. Shortly after starting my regular job, the lady who registers patients came over to me and asked: “Blake, will you go check on the gentleman in the bathroom? He went in there about ten minutes