First Generation Medical Intellectual

Jocelyn Hernandez

Delaware State University

Survey of Liberal Studies

Dr. Turhan Potter

February 20th, 2024

Many people grow up and know exactly what they want to be when they’re five years

old. Other people reach adulthood and still have no idea what they want to do. The possibility of

having the option of a major such as Liberal Studies creates a way for students who do not have

a specific area of study, a way to explore other subjects and disciplines.

I am from Washington. D.C. As many know, this place is a big politic playground and

most people when they think of D.C., they think of the president and the vast number of

opportunities to land a government job with a nice paycheck. But as a native, aside from the

politics, it’s a city heavy on crime, many people lose their lives and, in most cases, it is due to the

lack of urgency within healthcare, especially in areas where the crime rate is high. I mention this

to explain how this is one of the reasons why I chose my discipline which is Nursing.

The high crime rate and the range of deaths in D.C. can be baffling. Most of these deaths

consist of teens and young adults. Most deaths occur on the scene while others occur during

transport or during the first few hours of care. There are many factors as to why this occurs, but I

will focus on one, being the nationwide nursing shortage that we see today as a result of COVID.

The nursing shortage is seen all over but as a result, many people lose their lives due to long wait

times or lack of nursing care. Having to experience a loved one lose their life because of this

makes one question what they can do to make a change. Also, in most areas of D.C. in which

crime is high, most of the population in these areas are people of color. I believe it’s important

for people of color to be able to receive care in high stress situations like a gunshot wound

(GSW) to receive care from someone who looks like them and is empathetic during these times.

GSW are most common, and in most cases the healthcare provider is expected to be skilled and

understand the type of care the person should receive but another aspect to care is being able to

empathize. This is a main motivator in wanting to enter the healthcare field because more nurses
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are needed as well as people that look like you are important. It helps create an inclusive

environment for people and helps people be more at ease in high stress situations.

When you’re in school, in elementary, there is always that question they ask, “what do

you want to be when you grow up?”. Every time I would get asked that question, my hand would

shoot up and my answer would be, “a doctor”. I was about 5 years old at the time when I knew

that I wanted to be doctor. At the time my household consisted of myself, my older sister who is

a year older, and my dad. Now this seems like the average family size and most common

lifestyle in America but the only difference that separates my family from the average lifestyle is

that my older sister was diagnosed with autism ate the age of 3-4 years old and with that came a

whole different style of life for everyone in the family. At the beginning of said diagnosis, it was

hard for everyone because we were all unfamiliar with how to handle it since my sister’s

behavior changed drastically during her early years. The year difference in our age makes us

almost twins so what affects her affected me as well and in turn affected everyone as a family.

Even though I was so young, I knew I wanted to be a doctor because as such a young age, I knew

that even though my sister was diagnosed with autism, no one was ever able to give a real reason

as to why this happened. This was my main concern overall. I realized that not just my sister, but

kids all over with other mental disabilities had no idea what could’ve caused it, specifically for

those that developed them after birth. So, for such a young mind, I knew that I wanted to make a

difference which is why for so long I wanted to be a doctor until I learned about the different

kinds of people in healthcare. By the time I reached 5th grade and middle school, once I learned

about the different types of doctors, I took a liking to surgery, specifically neurosurgery. I took

the time to research and realize there is a lot of good going on in wanting to find out more about

the development of certain mental disabilities and what may cause them. Many people have
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different opinions on what could be the cause but there is not a specific reason on what it could

be, and it is something I am very interested in finding out.

When it was time to apply for college, I was set in doing the medical track and create the

path to go to medical school. When I got to Delaware State, I did not know what major to choose

since there was no discipline for neuroscience which is what I intended to do in college. I chose

the next best thing which was Nursing. Considering my upbringing and the purpose of pursuing a

career in healthcare, nursing seemed like a good fit. Aside from the reasons that influenced my

decision to choose nursing, I have always been a person who has enjoyed helping other people.

Before I knew what an empath was or meant, I could always take in others’ emotions at a given

time and knew something would be wrong even if they would not verbally say it. This is a very

important trait to have in healthcare. Many people may not verbally say what’s wrong and as a

healthcare provider, you want to be able to notice these things before it becomes too late. There

are also people who are nonverbal, and it becomes more difficult to know exactly what the

problem may be without having a person verbally tell you how they feel so it is an important trait

to have in certain situations.

Keeping in mind how flawed healthcare can be and how many lives are lost every day

due to the shortage of healthcare workers, the world can seem like a very dark place. I like to

reference D.C. as Gotham City because of the amount of crime that can be seen everywhere

which can get out of control. Just like Gotham City has Batman, D.C. needs a hero to help reduce

the crime or deaths that occur. I believe even the smallest change can go a long way and by

noticing that there is a problem is always step one. Acknowledging that there is a problem in

healthcare is one thing, but also thinking about how you can help fix the problem can create a

society that is less problematic. My contribution is becoming a healthcare worker to help with
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the shortage that is seen. The skills that I have learned during my education can also contribute to

this. As a student, I learn about what the issues in the world are as well as concepts and ideas in

which can help create a better world. What I mean by that is, the skills I have learned I can use in

everyday life to make it just a little bit easier for everyone else. One of the main concepts that

has stood out to be as a liberal studies student is inclusivity. In present day, inclusivity is

something that is being practiced more and more. We have come a long way since the days

where women weren’t allowed to work or even vote. Now our sole focus is to create an

environment and society where everyone feels included regardless of race, gender, age,

sexuality, etc. This is extremely important in healthcare because there have been many cases of

neglect or poor performance due to a person’s bias on an individual. This is a very slippery slope

to be on because this can cost someone’s life.

There have always been issues in healthcare and many people have died due to

negligence and/or malpractice. The goal is to change that and create an environment where

people are willing to receive care and not feel like they do not belong. It can be very frightening

to trust someone with your life, which is why it is very important to always make people feel

understood during these moments. Nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers will always be

needed and for healthcare to become better, it takes people who are willing to see a change. I

hope to one day make change and be a step in the right direction for healthcare.
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Works Cited

1. Augsburg (2015). Becoming Interdisciplinary: An Introduction to Interdisciplinary

Studies (3rd ed.). Kendall Hunt Publishing.

https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/books/9781465290144