Monterrey Mushrooms

On Sunday I went to Monterrey Mushrooms, the largest mushroom company in the world, and helped vaccinate their workers. We got a wonderful tour of the farm and free mushrooms to boot!

Give and Take

On Monday morning, I received an email from the Stanford Blood Center, asking to donate blood because they are very low on their stock of Type A blood for patients. I immediately called and scheduled an appointment to donate that afternoon. I saw giving blood as an opportunity to make amends for my novice blood draws at the free clinic on Saturday. It's the least I could do. It ended up being a family affair, me, my dad and my mom donated! It was the first time my mom had ever donated, but she was a champ. I even convinced Woody, a fellow med student to donate! We all received t-shirts and free pints of baskin robbins ice cream...A pint for a pint...

Life is such a give and take, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to give a little. You can now give blood once every two months, and I'm pledging to do my best to do that this year. I learned that sometimes you can give, sometimes you have to take, but it turns out alright in the end as long as you do your best...

Support Haitians

I donated and you can too. Life is about people, and people in Haiti are in need of all the help we can give them right now. I can't wait to be a surgeon so I will have skills I will be able to provide anywhere, anytime needed. Here is their latest news release about the situation.

December 14: Something You Need to To Do

Go watch Living in Emergency, the first uncensored documentary about Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors without Borders) to bear witness to the extreme conditions of wartorn countries. It is a one-night event, find out where it is playing by you here



I just went to a lecture this morning given by Dr. Sherry Wren who shared her experience in the Congo over the last two summers. We must be better, we must do more.

Today: 3 Firsts

1. Took my first patient history ever (I heart the Pacific Free Clinic)

2. Did my first blood draw ever

3. Chased by ferocious dogs on a run for the first time ever

Philanthropy

Learned today that the word philanthropy breaks down to mean the love of humankind. I suddenly like this word a lot more today than I did yesterday.

Operation NICE

Operation NICE is a blog devoted to chronicling acts of kindness and niceness that happen to people around the country. Definitely a nice website to go to after your car has been broken into, credit cards have been scammed, or the dentist double-billed you...Hmm seems like me and people I know are due for some niceness in the near future!

Medicins Sans Frontieres

I started reading Hope in Hell last night, an inside look into the humanitarian relief organization Doctors without Borders. Here are some of my reactions to the first 100 pages:

• I didn't realize that MSF employed twice as many local health workers as so-called expats.
• I was sickened to hear about some of the trauma they treat and the causes, children shot in the hands by soldiers, amputees from mortar attacks, extreme dehydration and malnutrition.
• I think the burn out rate for these health workers would be really high. It sounds like their living conditions are okay, but the work is basically 24/7, and you never have enough resources
• The work interests me, perhaps not being directly in a war zone, but the refugee camps, the community clinics they are building, this is something I'm drawn to.
• It also terrifies me at the same time
• Being a surgeon in this situations would be really helpful to a lot of people, you could save a lot of people's lives.
• Reading these personal stories of doctors really inspires me, one of the most compelling reasons to become a doctor is exactly what doctors do every day in MSF, they can save people's lives with their intellect, skill, and technical knowledge.
• My statement still stands that there is nothing more privileged or cool in the world then having these skills and using them for good.
• Most of all, I was deeply saddened. Saddened that this type of organization is needed. Saddened that so many people are in such brutal living conditions, unfairly and unjustly, with no fault of their own.

www.msf.org
A reason that MSF is able to stay independent is largely thanks to individual donations. If you're interested in donating, learn more here