I’d say my journey to becoming a physician started on those sleepy-eyed mornings my father drove me to school.
At that time in my life I hated school. I’m not really sure why. I had good friends, wonderful teachers - but just didn’t want to go. Although I had wonderful coaches and teachers guiding me, educating me with invaluable lessons I’d use the rest of my life, they weren’t the ones planting the seed that would eventually grow into a passion for helping others. The seed was one simple sentence my father would leave me with every morning as I took those hesitant steps from the car to the front door of school.
He’d say, “Son, make someone feel good today.”
He did this every day, without fail - and eventually, I took his advice. I’d give a compliment to someone who needed it. I’d sit next to the kid eating lunch by himself. Maybe it was their reactions, perhaps their smiles, but it gave me a good feeling to help someone - to “make someone feel good.”
Guess what I tell my boys before they leave for school every day.
My journey continued on those achy jointed family mission trips we took to Mexico every summer.
My mother was a Spanish teacher when I was a child. She loved the language, the culture, and the people of Mexico. So instead of the typical yearly family vacations, we’d go on mission trips to Mexico during our summer breaks.
It was on those mission trips that she taught me there's no greater act of human kindness than to give oneself in serving others.
I learned that kindness and empathy are likely two of the most important traits a person needs in order to have happiness and give happiness in this crazy life. I think my patients appreciate me not because I immediately have ALL the answers. Sometimes I don’t - medicine is a complex and ever moving thing. But my patients know I have a passion for finding those answers for them, and I won't stop until we find them together. Thoroughness, attention to detail, listening to my patients, and striving to truly understand what they're telling me is what I pride myself on. I treat my patients the way I'd like to be treated - like family.
I became a physician to touch a life, to change a life, to serve, to heal, and to provide comfort. These are my passions. They are what drive me.
Every day when I go to work, in a way I'm just doing what my dad always told me...
