My learning objectives for the summer were as follows:
- Gain a close understanding of alternative medicine practices.
- Become more familiar with the women’s reproductive health and obstetrics sector of healthcare.
- Develop a wider, more open-minded perspective of the healthcare field and the world.
- Become more confident in my interactions with patients and peers/mentors in the professional setting.
- Further develop my Spanish with a focus on strengthening my ease and confidence of communication.
Over the past months with Manos Abiertas, I have become well acquainted with alternative medicine practices (i.e. traditional herbal remedies, life-style changes, belly-binding, and more); I now know more about women’s reproductive and obstetric health than I do about any other healthcare field through first hand experience monitoring fetal and maternal development throughout pregnancy and assisting in births; I feel I have a much wider perspective on healthcare as well as a broader definition of what the word itself means as a result of having being exposed to such new aspects within this field; I have gained a new level of confidence in communicating in the professional setting after being faced with the challenge of communicating with patients and co-workers in a language other than my native one; and months of speaking primarily Spanish has given me a level of confidence with the language I never expected to have.
Going forward with all I have learned and gained from this experience – I intend to apply and continue to expand on my skills relating to Spanish as well as the OB/GYN field. I will continue pursuing my Spanish minor at Tulane, and I will try to find connections to women’s reproductive health and fetal health in the biology classes I take in the future. With a more-long term vision, I will seriously consider a career working with Spanish-speaking communities or even in a Spanish-speaking country as well as a career in obstetrics/gynecology. I think the biggest take-away from this experience that I hope to carry with me in future endeavors is finding and maintaining the right intention in medicine. Especially in practicing more traditional/homeopathic medicine, I think there is a greater closeness with the original intention of medicine – to help people be well while respecting the body’s natural capabilities to do so. I have learned a lot about the benefits of minimizing intervention and invasiveness, and I hope to carry those values with me in my career.
For other students interested in interning with Manos Abiertas, a similar organization, or any organization within the realm of healthcare – there are 2 pieces of advice I think are most helpful.
- Reach out! Send that first email stating your interest, apply, contact the organization, go meet them in person! Whatever it is – taking the first small step towards getting involved is the most important one. Every internship I have had, including this one, started from a place of little confidence/faith that it would actually come to fruition. Go for it anyway – you never know where one email might take you.
- Use your previous experiences to help guide you while keeping an open mind. Seeing healthcare from such a new, specific, and drastically different perspective really tested my beliefs, values, and opinions about the healthcare field as I knew it. It’s ok to realize your perspective was narrow and even ignorant. There is great room for growth in those types of realizations. Be open to learning new things even if those new things seem so foreign.
It is difficult to monitor the change in my ideals and concepts of gender and social justice in this setting; while the environments share some similarities, Guatemala and the United States are homes to significantly different attitudes surrounding gender and social justice in general and in the professional healthcare setting. There still exists a very prominent “machismo” presence in Guatemala – much more so than in the United States. While I think I am still organizing concepts of gender and social equality that are new to me, one ideal reinforced by my experience working in a completely female-owned and operated OB/GYN clinic is that gender is not a determining factor when it comes to aptitude or capability in the healthcare setting. Men can be amazing healthcare providers. Women can be equally amazing healthcare providers. We benefit from working together and uniting our collective perspectives and knowledge that maybe unique to our individual selves but that is not unique to our genders.
Effecting positive change and coming up with productive solutions to problems is not simple. There is no quick fix or answer – these are processes that take time, thoughtful consideration, and often-monotonous TLC. I have learned this through my conversations with the women who founded and have since overseen operations at Manos Abiertas for the past 10 years and firsthand through the work still being done to maintain this project that has been and is still providing a solution for thousands of women in need of well-intentioned, honest, high-quality reproductive healthcare services who would otherwise not have access to such services. I have also learned that it takes teamwork and the humility required to accept help from others. Helping others is a central part of the spirit that is so inherent to positive social change; it only makes sense that it is a central part of the means of getting there as well.