Tender Mercies, Inc.

Martha Michelle Estrada, Summer 2012

At Tender Mercies I've gained enormous insight into the lives of people struggling with mental illness. During my time here I've taught weekly education classes discussing a variety of health topics. I've held open office hours where residents came in to get their blood pressure and weight checked. Many came in with questions and needed help finding resources. Some times this would include helping to schedule doctors' appointments and finding primary care doctors in the area who would see them. I would also counsel residents on ways to help them manage their diabetes and high blood pressure. I kept track of the residents' concerns and blood pressure readings on an excel sheet. At the end of the internship I printed them out and turned them over to the individual residents so they could present their information to their PCP. I also gathered their BP reading and organized the data into a chart to show how many of the residents suffer from high blood pressure. I then turned this anonymous data into my supervisor so that he may use the information to help apply for health grants.

My favorite part about the internship was interacting with the residents and getting to know their story. I had many eye opening experiences, but the ones that surprised me were the ones that revealed that only takes one event for any of us to end up in a similar situation. There were residents I talked to who used to be professionals with college degrees, some even used to be health professionals. This hit close to home and made me realize how lucky I am to have what I have; whether it is a great support system of friends and family or having health insurance and the knowledge to maneuver through the health care process. One of the most upsetting realizations came when I had a couple residents with major illnesses who were struggling to communicate with their doctors, find transport to the office, and afford necessary prescriptions. As a result of this struggle, their health has deteriorated. This was devastating to see and it is a sad reality of what most of the homeless and mentally ill population face. I can confidently say that I will take what I learned at Tender Mercies and apply it to my practice when I become a physician. I will always try to show compassion and support to all of my patients by really listening to their concerns and addressing the limitations they may face with their treatment. I learned to never judge a book by its cover and that showing compassion is so important because we may never fully understand what our patients are experiencing.