Born on the same day, but worlds away. Me to hospital lights and smiling American faces, you, to a Bhutanese family ready to flee.
You came out of your mother’s womb, straight onto her back because she had to run. The daughter of a protestor, you were carried away from your home after just a few days in the world.
I am a Primary Care Physician Assistant to the Refugee Community. I am both proud and humbled that this is the path I am on. I used to think primary care might be boring or monotonous but my experience has shown me that it is quite the opposite. Partly, this is because our unique population comes with very interesting challenges. Another reason is that primary care clinicians see anything and everything! While, some days (especially cold & flu season) it feels monotonous with dozens of colds, other days we see challenging, crazy, interesting, or rare cases. Most days, we are managing chronic conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, & chronic lung diseases — sometimes with visible success but much of the time very slow progress or none at all. The fact that Primary care sees all ages and all diseases makes it especially challenging. The biggest challenges by far in our particular practice, are the language and cultural barriers we face on a daily basis.
