HCASB 2013
Toppenish Community Hospital
Toppenish, WA
Spring 2013
Toppenish, WA
Spring 2013
When I heard our group was going to Toppenish, WA, a small rural city near Yakima, I was excited, intrigued, nervous, and curious all at the same time. Toppenish must be like Yakima, right? The only time I’ve been to Yakima was to pick apples with my family when I was really little, so I really didn’t know much about the city.
Toppenish was very different from Seattle. Since there is a lot of agriculture near Yakima Valley, there is a high Hispanic population in the area. There is also an Native America reservation near the area, so Native Americans are also prominent in the area. Most of the cases I’ve seen at the hospital are related to alcohol and drugs. Toppenish is very different from Seattle. Toppenish is a rural area, lots of agriculture and wide open areas, whereas Seattle has many buildings and busy streets. There isn’t really a developed public transportation system in Toppenish. People rely on cars to get around.
In the future, I would like to temporarily live and practice in a small city like Toppenish. For spring break, I was given the wonderful opportunity to shadow in Toppenish Community Hospital. I love the setting of a small hospital and how close-knit everybody is to each other. Doctors from the ICU correlate closely with the pharmacists. The pharmacists know the radiologists. And the radiologist technicians are buddies with the ER doctors. I feel like this is something that larger hospitals lack. However, born and raised in Seattle, I love the urban atmosphere. I enjoy doing outdoor activities. I love seeing people on the streets. I love being able to take the bus around the city and explore. It’s such a hard decision to make.
One assumption about rural communities before this trip was the access in technology and communication. I thought it might hinder the communication between staffs in the hospital. However, when I started shadowing the medical staffs, the technology there was superb and up to par with the technology in Seattle hospitals. Since Toppenish Community Hospital was so small, the communication between the staff was probably even better than the larger hospitals in urban cities!
Working in different parts of the hospital made me see the overall picture of how a hospital runs. I shadowed in the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Medical Unit, Pharmacy, Radiology, and Maternal Care. It was the most eye-opening experience. Since the hospital was so small, I got to see the patient being admitted into the ER on Monday and seeing the same patient in the ICU on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I shadowed the pharmacist and understood what medication the same patient taking. And by Thursday, I got to see the nurses doing discharge paperwork. I got to see the whole process of diagnosing, treating, and discharging the patient. It was like a mystery investigation with many different puzzle pieces!
Shadowing at the hospital taught me how to treat patients with different backgrounds. Most of the doctors spoke Spanish, which was important if you want to understand the patient. The ER doctor told me he didn’t learn it until he started working in Toppenish Community Hospital. He picked up a couple words and started to speak it! It made me realize how breaking the language barrier can be such a simple, yet crucial part in diagnosing and treating the patient.
My experiences with the medical staffs at the clinic were amazing. They were very lenient and joked around with us about school and life. They didn’t exclude us and even let us help them by the end of our shadowing experience. They explained everything with in-depth detail. Everyone was a family in the hospital and they made me feel a part of it. By the end of the trip, everyone around the hospital has seen me walking around the halls. The best advice one of the doctors gave me was find what I’m passionate about. There are so many opportunities out there, I can mix and match different passions and create a job I love. And when you love what you do, it wouldn’t be a job anymore. It would simply just be a part of your life.
Overall the trip has taught me to not just treat my patients like a number in the healthcare system, but as a person. I am very thankful to be in Toppenish, shadowing such a wonderful group of medical professional, and being housed by the most caring family. Hopefully next year, I will be able to attend another Healthcare Alternative Spring Break!
Toppenish was very different from Seattle. Since there is a lot of agriculture near Yakima Valley, there is a high Hispanic population in the area. There is also an Native America reservation near the area, so Native Americans are also prominent in the area. Most of the cases I’ve seen at the hospital are related to alcohol and drugs. Toppenish is very different from Seattle. Toppenish is a rural area, lots of agriculture and wide open areas, whereas Seattle has many buildings and busy streets. There isn’t really a developed public transportation system in Toppenish. People rely on cars to get around.
In the future, I would like to temporarily live and practice in a small city like Toppenish. For spring break, I was given the wonderful opportunity to shadow in Toppenish Community Hospital. I love the setting of a small hospital and how close-knit everybody is to each other. Doctors from the ICU correlate closely with the pharmacists. The pharmacists know the radiologists. And the radiologist technicians are buddies with the ER doctors. I feel like this is something that larger hospitals lack. However, born and raised in Seattle, I love the urban atmosphere. I enjoy doing outdoor activities. I love seeing people on the streets. I love being able to take the bus around the city and explore. It’s such a hard decision to make.
One assumption about rural communities before this trip was the access in technology and communication. I thought it might hinder the communication between staffs in the hospital. However, when I started shadowing the medical staffs, the technology there was superb and up to par with the technology in Seattle hospitals. Since Toppenish Community Hospital was so small, the communication between the staff was probably even better than the larger hospitals in urban cities!
Working in different parts of the hospital made me see the overall picture of how a hospital runs. I shadowed in the Emergency Department, Intensive Care Unit, Medical Unit, Pharmacy, Radiology, and Maternal Care. It was the most eye-opening experience. Since the hospital was so small, I got to see the patient being admitted into the ER on Monday and seeing the same patient in the ICU on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I shadowed the pharmacist and understood what medication the same patient taking. And by Thursday, I got to see the nurses doing discharge paperwork. I got to see the whole process of diagnosing, treating, and discharging the patient. It was like a mystery investigation with many different puzzle pieces!
Shadowing at the hospital taught me how to treat patients with different backgrounds. Most of the doctors spoke Spanish, which was important if you want to understand the patient. The ER doctor told me he didn’t learn it until he started working in Toppenish Community Hospital. He picked up a couple words and started to speak it! It made me realize how breaking the language barrier can be such a simple, yet crucial part in diagnosing and treating the patient.
My experiences with the medical staffs at the clinic were amazing. They were very lenient and joked around with us about school and life. They didn’t exclude us and even let us help them by the end of our shadowing experience. They explained everything with in-depth detail. Everyone was a family in the hospital and they made me feel a part of it. By the end of the trip, everyone around the hospital has seen me walking around the halls. The best advice one of the doctors gave me was find what I’m passionate about. There are so many opportunities out there, I can mix and match different passions and create a job I love. And when you love what you do, it wouldn’t be a job anymore. It would simply just be a part of your life.
Overall the trip has taught me to not just treat my patients like a number in the healthcare system, but as a person. I am very thankful to be in Toppenish, shadowing such a wonderful group of medical professional, and being housed by the most caring family. Hopefully next year, I will be able to attend another Healthcare Alternative Spring Break!