Catholic Charities

Tessa and I have been working at the Catholic Charities in Pittsburgh for almost a month now and it's much more than I expected it to be. Rarely have I see any doctors office or organization as organized as this place is run and it's run primarily by volunteers. At most hospitals or doctors offices you often see people who are not excited or happy to be there and therefore are not very friendly at all. But at Catholic Charities I've never been around a group of people that were so nice, friendly and happy to be where they are.

The patient population at Catholic Charities ranges from the homeless to people that just lost a good job and even some people who are making decent money but not enough to meat their means and lack insurance. Every patient that comes in is more than grateful and appreciative to the care that they are receiving and there's nothing more rewarding to me that being able to help someone that really needs and appreciates my help.

At this capstone Tessa and I take the patients back, get vitals, a history and general complaint. We then follow the doctor back during the appointment, go over the plan of care and direct the patient so they can get any labs, tests or follow up that they need.

I've had such a broad experience when it comes to doctors and patients because at this site we are offered to follow general medicine doctors, gyn doctors, endocrinologist's, eye doctors, podiatrists, cardiologists, psychiatrists and nurse practitioners.

So far I've seen everything from diabetic foot ulcers that were as round as soup can and 2 inches deep to something we commonly see such as a heart murmur.

Tessa and I are learning a lot and both feel we are lucky we are able to have this experience.