NYLF Medicine: Opening Doors to a Future in Health Care
Since I was a young girl, I knew I would find myself working in health care. My mother has been a neonatal intensive-care unit (NICU) nurse for over 25 years. But when I was nominated to attend the National Youth Leadership Form (NYLF): Careers in Medicine, my mother told me: “You’re going to come back, and being a nurse won’t be enough. You’re going to want to be a doctor.”
She was right. At NYLF Medicine, something changed.
I was surrounded by all of these people set on helping others and dedicating their life to the medical profession. When I heard Dr. Pedro Greer, a leading humanitarian-physician working with the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, speak about a physician’s responsibility to his patients, I knew I would do whatever it took to become a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.). His words captivated me as he spoke passionately about his experiences. I was determined to become a source of comfort, a woman with the power to heal and help those who needed it. Immediately, I began research.
Where I had been a passive student before, I started to bombard my faculty advisor with questions. Every guest speaker further encouraged me to pursue my goal. I found the official website for the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, which supplied numerous resources that will help me now as I plan for the future, and later as I apply for and begin medical school.
Attending NYLF Medicine opened my eyes and made me realize that becoming a D.O. is well within my reach, and the time it takes to finally fulfill that dream will make it so much sweeter. While I am still a long way from applying for medical school, I know now that there is no doubt I will be following that path.
When I told my mother about my change of heart, she smiled and said, “I told you so.”
Since completing NYLF Medicine last summer, I've enrolled in an amazing practical nursing program within my school district, alongside my regular high school program. When I graduate from high school next year, I will be a licensed practical nurse (LPN).
Every day I'm at clinicals, I feel myself falling more in love with medicine. With the exposure I gained from the NYLF Medicine program, I've come up with more specific goals – neonatologist or OB-GYN –and have therefore been able to get assistance from my instructors to have additional exposure to units, procedures and diagnoses that I may see in the future in such specialties.