Humans of Jefferson, 1015 Walnut St (2026)

17/10/2023

Horrific tragedy has been unfolding in the Middle East, especially within the last few weeks. It is all we can see on social media and the news, and it has been challenging to find a safe space to share what you're going through.

Please click on the link in our bio if you would like to share your experiences with us. We want this form to be an opportunity to share your thoughts about the last few weeks. What have you been feeling? What do you wish people knew about this situation, or what do you wish you could do? There are no right or wrong answers, and this is not a space for judgement. You can write as much or as little as you want.

Please remember, your input is anonymous. We want you to feel safe in this opportunity to reflect on the complicated thoughts and emotions you may have been experiencing lately.

Thank you for your vulnerability and trusting us - HoJ

10/10/2023

One of the main things that I've realized is that doctors and nurses and everyone in the healthcare field really need to consider how they treat patients. The doctors I had back in Delaware were amazing. We weren't just talking about clinical stuff for medical treatment. Like I love the news, so in the hospital, I just had the news on, and the doctor walks in. They were like, “What is going on here?” And I was like, “Oh, it’s the news!” And the doctor asked why I was watching it, and I said I love the news. Then they said, “You're the first kid who I met that loves the news.” And then we just had a genuine conversation about nothing related to cancer, or treatment. It was just nice to have someone who recognizes me as a person, as a human.

At first I didn’t know what I wanted to specialize in. I had a wide list of options. I was thinking about pediatrics or family medicine, going into primary care, maybe being a cardiologist. But then after everything I went through, oncology really went up on the list. Going back to that one doctor who, like my oncologist, really treated me as human and just, made me feel so welcome whenever they walked in through the door-- I want to do that for patients.
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Kishan Patel is a medical student, class of 2027, at SKMC. Follow along with his [email protected]_loading.

30/09/2023

I was in the middle of renal block when I started experiencing symptoms of memory loss. My family took me to my doctor, and that’s when everyone told me that I had a tonic seizure. I have vague memories of it. Then I got taken to the hospital in Delaware, and I was hospitalized for four months. They did MRIs and found a mass in my brain. For the longest time, they couldn’t figure out what exactly it was. At that point, I was unconscious. My oncologist tells me that I was practically dead. So the doctors there were like, “We have to do something.” So they started chemo on me, and that made a drastic difference.

The days of recovery were very lonesome. I was always a go, go go person, so with being home, I was just like, “This is not my life.” Having amazing friends and family that stuck by me helped me get through this. And they approved my return to school, so coming back to school was a strong motivation for me. I worked so hard to get into med school, and I’m going to come back to school and graduate. That was really strong motivation.

In the hospital, my family and friends were reminding me that there’s so much out there for me to do once everything is done. Just being that reminder, that bright light, that’s who I want to be for all my patients in the future, so they have that motivation to not give up.

I love memoirs! I read a lot during the pandemic, and it inspired me to do something big in life so people would want to read about my life. Barack Obama’s memoir, “A Promised Land” has been my favorite. With everything that happened to my head, I can’t remember specifics, but I love how he talks about his experiences as senator and president while tying in his childhood and life with his wife and kids. It just reminds you that life is a mosaic of so many different things. It’s a reminder for me that this cancer diagnosis is just a small part of that mosaic and there’s more to my life , which is amazing because I don’t want my life to be defined as a cancer patient.

Kishan Patel is a medical student, class of 2027, at SKMC. Follow along with his journey .kish_loading

18/09/2023

I started playing for the Guyanese national team in my sophomore year. My dad is from there. And I ultimately decided to play for them because I wanted to learn more about my culture, my heritage. I went for the first time with my dad in 2015. We specifically went for the 50th anniversary of Guyana’s independence from England. It’s called the Guyana Jubilee. It was cool to see how he described it and put an image to those descriptions. It was pretty cool to play for them. We played in the World Cup and the Olympic Qualifiers. That was definitely the highlight of my career. The decision to end my soccer career there was rooted in my priorities. I asked myself: Do I want to be a professional soccer player? And potentially play in a World Cup? Which I did, 100%! Or do I want to start my medical journey and one day become a physician? And I do, 150%!

Besides my teammates, of course, the camaraderie that comes with it is definitely one of the things I miss the most. Where you’re all working toward a common goal. That’s part of why I love working in groups - having some internal motivation as well as some external motivation by group members.

Since starting school back up, I’ve realized that I really like learning. During the pandemic, I decided I wanted to take up roller skating. I’ve found a rollerskating community here in Philly via Instagram, and now we rollerskate all over the city in different parks. And another community that’s really important to me is the natural hair community. I’m really excited about the loc community meet-up that I’m planning. I’ve really been into embracing my natural state, embracing myself and my hair as I am. It’s been important for me to make time for things like this while in medical school. When you’re learning things that are fun and enjoyable, it definitely doesn’t feel as tedious. And all of these things have been helping me learn more about myself, my friends, my significant other, my family, etc., and it all has me really excited and happy about this next stage of my medical journey.

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Cameo Hazlewood is a second year student in the Class of 2026 at SKMC.

06/09/2023

(Part 2 of 2)
“When I visited Chengdu, China, I toured a large river delta. There were so many calligraphers by the river, and they epitomized this idea of appearing like giving very little effort, but you could really tell their mastery. They set up easels by the water all day, just writing poetry. I admired that tremendously. To an extent, that is what all my colleagues at Jefferson do. They are doing the most difficult work in medicine, making it look effortless at times, but underneath, imagine all the studying and the practice it took to get to that point! And connecting with patients on a very personal caring level at the same time! That is honing your craft with elegance.
I love fountain pens. They are remnants of a bygone era. Communicating to another person through handwriting - there's such beauty in that. Relaying your thoughts as fast as you can think them. Each fountain pen has a personality, and each pen writes a little differently, thick or thin. You learn the personality of a pen as you live with it, and as you use it in your journeys and adventures. When you get really tangled in the hobby, you start having pens you take with you for trips, for good luck, for certain lectures, for different occasions. The madness can go deep!

When older patients see me writing with a fountain pen, they'll say, ‘I never see people write with one of those anymore!' and younger patients frequently ask: 'what is that you're writing with?’ It's a nice way to break the ice.
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Dr. Lau is an emergency medicine physician and student affairs dean at SKMC. He is also the director of the Jefferson Chinatown Clinic, Jefferson China Center, and Jefferson Japan Center.

04/09/2023

(Part 1 of 2)
“I really wanted to be an artist when I was growing up. I always wanted my dad to draw my toy cars. And he basically told me one day, ‘I'm not drawing you any more cars, you've got to learn to do this on your own.’ And so, realizing one day [that] I don't need my dad to draw this for me, was an independent moment. Then, I just filled up pieces of paper all day long with cars, cars, cars. It just kind of became a way to capture something that I loved. Having a physical car there one moment - and being able to replicate it by drawing -- there's something really beautiful about that.

The way I do art now is really through calligraphy. So fountain pens were a big thing for me. I practice writing every day. During my meetings, if you see me doodling, I am probably writing names or some concepts in my head. Just how I keep myself sharp. Each Thursday, I write out my itinerary for the whole following week. I'll usually write in calligraphy on the back of an envelope or the back of a folder.

In Chinese calligraphy, I think there's another level of beauty. The language captures concepts in each single character. Each of those characters tells you the story right within it. It's a whole artwork in itself. Some calligraphy fonts look like scribbles, but actually there is perfect form and perfect proportions if you know where to look. It takes a lot of mastery to be able to do that. There is no going back once you put brush to paper - when you see something that's really written beautifully, it's capturing lightning in a bottle. Artistic expression exercises a different part of your brain.”
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Dr. Lau is an emergency medicine physician and student affairs dean at SKMC. He is also the director of the Jefferson Chinatown Clinic, Jefferson China Center, and Jefferson Japan Center.

16/08/2023

(Part 1 of 2)
“I really wanted to be an artist when I was growing up. I always wanted my dad to draw my toy cars. And he basically told me one day, ‘I'm not drawing you any more cars, you've got to learn to do this on your own.’ And so realizing one day [that] I don't need my dad to draw this for me, was an independent moment. Then, I just filled up pieces of paper all day long, cars, cars, cars. It just kind of became a way to capture and hold power over something that I loved. Having the car right there, a miniature version of it, is a way of being able to replicate it in any way that you want, and there's something really beautiful about that.

The way I do art now is really through calligraphy. So fountain pens were a big thing for me. I practice it every day. During my my meetings, when you see like me doodling, I am probably writing someone's name or I'm writing some concept in my head. Just that's how I keep myself in the in the game for long meetings that are going on and on. And then every week, I will write out my itinerary for the whole week on Thursdays. And I usually do it with with some, some calligraphy or some flair on the back of an envelope or a back of a folder.

I think there's just something beautiful about Chinese and East Asian art and calligraphy, because the whole entire concept is captured in the character - each of those characters tells you the story right within it. It's a whole artwork in itself. I think that it can just look scribbles, but actually there is perfect form and perfect proportions. It takes a lot of mastery to be able to do that. And so when I see something that's really written beautifully, it's just like lightning in a bottle. But I think it comes down to expression and it comes down to just exercising a different part of your brain.
---
Dr. Lau is an emergency medicine physician and student affairs dean at SKMC. He is also the director of the Jefferson Chinatown Clinic, Jefferson China Center, and Jefferson Japan Center.

08/08/2022

“One thing I spent a lot of time doing in college was journalism. I reported for my college newspaper and produced a radio show for the station at UC Berkeley. But I only completed half of my journalism minor. It’s a summer program, but during the second half I actually got invited to perform in Vienna with the Pacific Symphony Youth Wind Ensemble. We were able to go around Salzburg and Vienna. I remember going to a museum there, and we saw some of Mozart’s hair, which was pretty gross. And they had Leonard Bernstein’s tuxedo — he was one of the great American conductor-composers, he wrote West Side Story. I guess he wasn’t very tall, because I remember seeing his tuxedo and thinking, “I could fit into that, maybe” *laughs*
So, when I came back to school, I thought, “Well I could finish taking these journalism classes, or I could actually try and do the job.”

So instead of finishing that minor, I joined The Daily Californian, my school’s independent, student-run newspaper. We wrote a lot of daily stories, which means we get an assignment the night before, we do the research during the day, conduct the interviews, and by that evening you turn around a 450-word article in less than 24 hours. It was a huge grind, but I loved that as a general assignment reporter you get to touch on anything and everything.

Something I realized in college was that although I worked with a lot of professors and grad students, some of the most well-versed people I’ve met have actually been journalists. Their job entails learning about things rapidly and synthesizing that into something cohesive very quickly.

Another thing that I learned that really stuck with me was that in my mind, the perfect interview can be just 15 minutes. You open with an introduction, then you dig a little deeper, a little deeper. And at some point, you hit it — a glint in someone’s eye, or their voice changes and you’ve found something they’re really passionate about. You roll with it, and eventually you’ve discovered something entirely unique and amazing about that person.”

~~~~
Matthew Lo is a second year student in the Class of 2025 at SKMC. He is a new interviewer for Humans of Jefferson.

06/05/2022

“Medicine always seemed the logical path for me. My parents are medical missionaries in Ethiopia, they’ve done that their whole careers. As I kid I never I thought I wanted to be a princess or an astronaut – I saw my parents and thought “I want to do what they do”. My dad’s an orthopedic surgeon and so is my grandfather. I volunteered in their clinic abroad once after high school, and it’s really what made my decision. It was insane, spending 6 weeks there -- being so hands-on in their work, connecting with staff and nurses and getting to know the patients there.

I was inspired by my parents but also developed my own passion for medicine – helping people and the thinking behind it. But I’ve also realized that work isn’t everything. Having a true balance is the most important thing to me. Growing up, I studied pretty hard and prioritized my work, but without good mental and physical health, what’s it all for?

To stay refreshed, the big thing for me lately is playing guitar. I always grew up wanting to learn guitar, but my parents really pushed me to learn viola and play in orchestra. It was like “What’s the point of learning guitar – you can’t put being in a band on college apps!” *laughs* So during dedicated I got into a great routine – Wake up, play guitar, do a question set, play some guitar, more questions. guitar, go for a walk. My favorite style is finger-picking, like indie, folk-y stuff. I love playing Cherry Wine by Hozier! I really like lyrics in music, and I pick songs based on how much I like the words in the song, and really get into it. It’s become a pretty fulfilling hobby for me.”
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Rachel Greene is a current M4 at SKMC

03/01/2022

“I really wanted to work for NASA and become an astrophysicist. I studied physics and engineering at University of the Sciences. You know about the Cassini spacecraft? We shot it at Saturn in like 1990 so we can observe its moons, its outer rays, its basic composition. It literally just crashed a few years ago, meaning it was up there, fully functional and doing work for all these years. It’s just incredible that human beings can do things like that. So for me, the transition from that to medicine was mostly a philosophical one. The reason I love space is because it reminds us how small we are. We all look up and can be amazed at how wide our universe is, and how we play only one tiny part in this gigantic system. I’m fascinated by the idea that one little change can throw off the large network in a kind of domino effect. The human body is similar to that, but it’s a closed system in a sense. The idea that a small group of people with such a concentrated area of knowledge have the potential to cause a lot of good for so many people– I think there’s something very poetic about it.

There is an added pressure coming from an immigrant family of trying to achieve great, but I think my parents understand now that I’m going to get to where I need to get without their pressures. Interestingly, my parents pushed me to not pursue medicine. My dad’s a pharmacist and since he was 21, he only worked night shifts. Growing up, there were a lot of gaps in our relationships because he would work at night and sleep during the day. I remember him being brutally honest about how medicine can lead to a poor family-life balance, and he really didn’t want me to go down that path. It was very real to hear that, but I ultimately chose this path and found a way to do what I wanted to do.”
~~~~~
Jacky Reny is a second year medical student at SKMC.

26/11/2021

(2/2) “When I get time, I like to paint and draw. In the past it was a bit of a side hustle. I’d sell pet portraits and other kinds of handmade things. In high school I used art to push boundaries- painting naked ladies and improper situations. I remember causing drama when I hung one of my pieces in the hallway and the vice principal told the teacher it had to be taken down. Now I use art as a way to decompress. That same teacher used to say that making art was like taking a nap. I’m a big advocate of taking naps. I find myself craving creativity sometimes, and that’s when I realize that maybe I need to feed my soul a little more.

Your soul needs certain things, you need to feed it friendship and love, and when you’re working around the clock, going to bed early, and doing it all over again, that’s tough. When my schedule was like that, I was starved. Back to the idea of flux, and contrary to what you see on Instagram, every day is not perfect. So, when we had fall break, I took a road trip with my roommate to Arizona! That was the end of a tough rotation, and I felt like I had a new lease on life. I went for walks in the city and realized I had forgotten how much I appreciate these brick sidewalks, and the flower boxes around Pine Street.

Many people think of ‘balance’ as a scale, where if one side tips up, the other side has to tilt down. I think of it more like a stack of rocks. You have different rocks of different sizes, and sometimes you have like a massive rock being held up by a little tiny rock. I can spend some weeks working non-stop at the clinic, but then I have other periods of my life where I completely detach from my work – see my friends, explore the city, read a book. People underestimate how important those little rocks are. I think that’s how you stay grounded.”
~~~~~
Casey Moffitt is an M3 at SKMC

Humans of Jefferson

17/10/2023

10/10/2023

30/09/2023

18/09/2023

06/09/2023

04/09/2023

16/08/2023

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