Christmas Break! You have to love it, especially with nearly a month off from Hope College. Although I love the busy rhythm of the semester, a month at home is pretty hard to grumble about. Amidst preparations for Christmas and buying presents to fill stockings, I utilized my time at home to do a few job shadow in various medical environments.
Two years ago, we had family friend, Emily, stay with us as she interned at Traverse City’s own Munson Medical Center.
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My sister, Lindsey, Emily, and I in 2010
Emily enjoyed her time so much in TC, she applied for residency here and was accepted!What does that entail, you ask? For the year, Emily is a Family Practice Resident. She rotates around different areas of Munson Medical by day and in the afternoon she works at Munson’s Family Clinic, run by residents looking to use their medical knowledge. This helps her gain clinic experience and builds her base of family care patients from Traverse City. I asked if I could tag along, and boy, was I in for a lot of learning!
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Dr. Margaret Moen’s office. I was greeted graciously and treated exceptionally all day by the wonderful secretaries and the awesome nurse practitioner. Dr. Moen is a sleep neurologist that specializes in…well….sleep! Patients come in when they have trouble sleeping, sleep too often (sombulence), or pop in and out of sleep. Mostly. Dr. Moen follows the usage of patients and their CPAP machines, a pressurized breathing system that allows patients to keep their airways open and avoid sleep apnea and snoring.
How did I afford these opportunities?? I ASKED.
My dad always says that the answer to an unasked question is always NO. He’s so right! Looking to pursue medicine, I am headed in to the neurology specialty, with the plans of becoming a neurosurgeon. But I’d love to be 100% positive that this is the field I’d like to go in. The answer? Shadow all medical professions and make a list of pros and cons. I called around back in October to see where I could shadow! Dr. Moen was very gracious in letting me hang out in her office all day and it was AWESOME of Emily to let me follow her around. Next week, I’ll be checking out more activity in the hospital!
I hope your break is as fulfilling as mine has been!
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