First Step Home

Seth Vensil, Summer 2010

When I first heard about the Urban Health Project, I knew that it was what I wanted to do for the summer. Something about the program really struck a chord with me. After going through the process and seeing what would eventually be my site, I was very anxious to begin work.

As I began at First Step Home, I was initially taken aback by the lifestyle of the clients. I soon became accustomed to the culture shock and began to fully integrate myself into the workings of the facility. With the help of the staff, I soon took on the responsibilities of a full staff member. I was able to engage the clients as a counselor and confidant. Through this, I was able to gain the respect of the clients and gain trust in helping them with their recovery.

Having now finished my internship with UHP, I can say that I have truly learned a lot this summer. In addition to learning about drug culture and the culture of poverty, I was able to learn about addiciton treatment and recovery. From a medical standpoint, I was able to pick up some knowledge about medication assissted treatment techniques for various types of drug addiction. Other than the medical aspect of medicine that I acquired over the summer, I learned the more important human aspect of medicine. I am so grateful to have had the social work side of medicine. All too often, it seems that doctors get caught up in the daily grind of work and forget that patients have lives beyond the clinic. Several times throughout my internship, clients expressed how grateful they were that I was learning about addiction as part of my medical education. Even during the course of my internship, I saw mistakes that doctors had made in treating patients working on recovering from drug addiciton. It is my impression that addiction is not taught in enough detail for doctors in todays society to understand how the disease works both during active addiction and during recovery.

I also learned a great deal about my own personality during my internship. The nature of addiction causes patients to manipulate situations in order to maximize their own benefit. At first, I was an "easy target" for the clients to manipulate to get what they wanted. By nature I am a trusting person, but I had to learn to be firm with the clients so that I did not get taken advantage of and so that all clients were treated in the same manner.

I am so glad that I took the opportunity to work with Urban Health Project this summer. I think that my site was the perfect fit for my personality and comfort zone. I was able to push myself beyond my comfort zone and learn about a side of medicine that I might not have ever seen without this experience. I know that this experience will stay with me through medical school and beyond. I feel much more comfortable working with underserved populations now than I did before UHP. I didn't learn much technical knowledge during the summer, but I was able to work on the human aspect of medicine. This amazing experience is something that every medical student should have because being a medical student is more than learning the anatomy of the human body, it's just as much about learning the anatomy of the human soul.