Psychology of Childhood and Adolescence in an Urban Context

The summer before my senior year of high school I volunteered at Forest Hills hospital. I felt that this experience would give me an opportunity to see if the medical field was my calling. I began the volunteering period doing filing and paper work for the most part. It was until about a month into the whole process when I was switched from filing/paper work to the front desk at the emergency room. I felt that this change in scenery gave me a better feel of what the medical field was all about. Some of the things I witnessed were heart wrenching. One day a mother brought in her daughter who was completely unresponsive due to a drug overdose. I watche in horror as her mother was screaming at the top of her lungs praying that her daughter would leave this ordeal in one piece. With the bad I also experienced the good. I remember one afternoon in particular where a a pair of newly weds entered the ER because the wife was in labor. Although she seemed distraught, the love and support from her husband caused her to smile despite the pain. Although medicine wasn’t the path for me, I’m glad I had that experience, so I can now encourage my sister to follow her dreams of becoming a doctor.