Extra Blog 2: Interesting Revelations

                        In my first interview something that I found interesting that my mentor told me was how no matter what, we can't help everyone, and that it was important to just do everything that we could. At first, it made sense because the sheer number of sick and impoverished people in the world would make it seem impossible to aid them all, but in the during our last research check, I read an article that completely changed my mind in a more hopeful way. The article was based around this young doctor who took part on a program called operation Smile, which focussed on reconstructive surgery for those with cleft pallets.
                       After taking part in the program, this doctor realized that instead of shipping doctors from the states to the third world countries for only a few weeks out of the year, they could solve an exponentially larger amount of cases by simply training the native doctors how to do the cases themselves. After getting back to home, the doctor started dedicating all of his spare time to working out how he was going to organize his soon to be revolutionary idea, becoming so engrossed in it at one point that when his boss took notice of it and gave him the choice between his job and his passion, he happily walked out the door. With no other priorities, he created Smile Train, which incorporated his idea of training local doctors in third world countries how to perform the reconstructive surgery cases themselves.
                     One of the main obstacles was the quality of care, this doctor knew that in the beginning the mortality rates for these surgeries performed by training surgeons would be high, but after years of perfecting his teaching and program method, the quality of care increased. On operation smile, the program was lucky to go through 100 patients in 2 weeks, but with Smile Train, the company helped operate on over 250,000 patients last year alone, which was more than the total number of people born with cleft pallets in that year.
                     Another outstanding outcome was the cost of the surgeries, usually a single cleft pallet case would cost over a thousand dollars minimum, but through the abundance of doctors now trained to handle these cases on a day to day basis, they cut the cost to a tenth, ranging from 150-200 dollars. As i mentioned earlier the number of cases performed exceeded the number of patients being born afflicted with the disease, meaning that as of right now the company is handling the back log of patients with the disease, which potentially equates to the idea of being able to wipe out cleft pallets entirely, only dealing with the cases when patients are born with them.
                     In the end, I now believe thanks to this doctor that with the right method and passion, doctors can help everyone in the world, they just have to be willing to look past the money and focus on why they became doctors in the first place, to fix sick people. The final idea that stays projected in my mind that I only realized was applicable to the medical field due to this article was "Give a man a fish, and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll never go hungry".
 

Second Interview Questions

Content: 
The purpose of the second interview is justify your mentor as an expert in the field.  Thus, you will be asking at least 5 questions about their background and/or the background of the organization or company where they work.

1.  Who is your mentor and where do they work?
A. My mentor is Robinson V. Baron M.D who is a private practitioner who works through Citrus Valley Health Partners

2.  What five questions will ask them about their background?
A. Many of my questions for interview one were about how my mentor started the medical missions and why, so for this next interview it would be appropriate to ask his reasoning on practicing medicine in America rather than the Philippines, where he went to school, what his titles are and have been, how many hospitals he attends currently, and what current events in medicine is he taking part in now (for the past few months my grandfather has been chosen to take place in a new robotic surgery program that is to be incorporated in hospitals nation wide in the next few years, so I'd like more info on that)

Questions will go through a approval process with your house teacher.  The house teacher is responsible to tell you if they are approved or not.  If they are not approved, you will need to resubmit.  Once approved, you are then approved to go to your mentor and complete the interview.  The interview is due 10/25 by 8AM to turnitin.com. 

Blog 5 Project Reflection and Working EQ

Content:   

So far, you have: completed your summer mentorship, started doing some research, maybe completed the interview and hopefully found a mentor.

Using what you have done so far, answer the following 5 questions (be specific and use examples).

The Pentagon: 
(1) Positive Statement: What positive thing happen as a result of what you have completed so far?
a. Due to the nature of my summer mentorship, I started helping people and overall improving my relationships with the people around me. For example, I have a standing appointment to help tutor several of my piers next week who are not having such an easy time in science. I want to continue expanding my friendships because I now realize that this is senior year, and I don't want to be remembered as the guy who was a jerk to everyone. 

(2) EQ Content:  Pick a piece of research or your interview.  How has it helped you improve your understanding of your topic?
a. I performed my interview pretty early, about two and a half weeks before it was due actually, and something that came to light from my mentor is that I was focussing too much on the medical aspect of missionary work, instead of the missionary part. My mentor emphasized that this was about doing what we could for people in the name of God, and that it was our goal to help people spiritually as well as physically.
(3) What has worked for you so far in the senior project?
I started taking a more proactive approach with the activities that go along with senior year, like helping design a potential sweater idea for example. This attitude of being a bigger part of the community has really helped me as a whole in actually getting my work done to the best of my ability. I want to continue this path and hopefully set a pace that I can continue after high school and use that momentum through college. 

(4) What hasn't worked so far?  
In all honesty, I think this is the best performance I have given since my first day at iPoly. My only hope is that it does not die down as the weeks go by and that I am able to keep up my effort in everything I do at school. On a smaller note, I am also having a hard time moving forward with my plans of doing daily problems for mrs. Pittman's class as the difficulty of the problems outpace the content we are taught in class. 

(5) Finding Value:  

•  What is a potential question you would like to study this year?  (working EQ)

So far the best question that comes to mind after my research is 'What is the best way to provide medical care to developing countries?'

•  What do you plan to do for mentorship?  If you haven't found a mentor yet, then discuss where you are currently looking and who you are talking to to find it.  

I plan on continuing on my medical missions to Tecate, Mexico with the ultimate goal of taking place on the medical missions to the Philippines this February .