Happy Holidays

The miracle is not that we do this work, but that we are happy to do it. Mother Teresa Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. Barack Obama If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. Maya Angelou As the year draws to a close, sixteen Medical Assistant students at the Allen School Queens campus share with us their goals, motivations and hopes for the future. In a world fraught with war, terrorism, economic upheaval and struggle, it is clear that these intelligent, decent and profoundly caring individuals represent the larger student body at Allen School and, as a result of their combined dedication, the promise of positive change for the world. “I used to work in a nursing home as a program facilitator arranging therapeutic programs for psych patients in the geriatric population. Not all of the staff were as pleasant, loving and caring as they should have been and I thought that if just one person could make a difference, it could start with me. I continue my career in the medical field, so I can help, not only on a professional level, but on a personal one as well.” Jesenia Cortez “The thing that personally inspired me to go into the medical field was the fact that my mother and grandmother took in foster/hardship children of all races and took care of them. I like to make a difference in a person’s life and look out for their well being as much as I can.” Dana Edwards “I want to work in a hospice, to help terminally ill patients to find their way out of this world.” Diana Donawa “I would like to do something for patients’ care, to give them more love, more attention, especially the elderly.” Daisy Samuel “My goal is to improve the care of patients who have extended stays in the hospital.” Rita Graffeo “Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a doctor for Somalia because I felt that the children there needed so much help. This is my way of building on my future dream.” Monea Brown “Hopefully, I would like to encourage patients to become more active in their treatment and to explain to the doctors what works for them and what doesn’t  because each person is an individual and we cannot just bunch all patients together.” Denise Shields “What I would love to see happen is a cure for Breast Cancer because I have known numerous women who died from it. It is tragic watching people go through the different steps, losing their hair, losing weight, suffering the treatments, and then, sometimes, they get healthy and then suddenly they get sick again. It is indescribable pain and it is horrible to watch it.” Winta Ragin “I am hoping to be an inspiration to Breast Cancer patients being that my godmother died from it.” Margo Hall-Wilson “I came to school to help people because I am inspired by the way that the medical field has cared for my mother and I want to [pay it forward.]” Jeanette Eaton “My dream has always been to be a supervisor in a hospital, to help make things move smoothly.” Steven Mitchell “I believe that they will improve the treatment for people with kidney stones and I hope to find my way into that type of practice.” Diana Leblanc “In my lifetime, I hope to see a cure for AIDS because before it was thought to be restricted to a small demographic. Then, they found out that it is a disease that crosses all borders and all demographics. With the new president, I hope he might be the one to really push the research forward for a cure.” Vanessa Rodriquez “I want to work in a laboratory to help find a vaccine for AIDS because there are a lot of at risk people in my generation.” Karen Andrade “I would like to be part of the whole picture when they find the cure for AIDS because AIDS is a big epidemic, like the Black Plague was, and it affects everyone at every age.” Christine Gonzalez “The advances that I think I will see in my future career as a Medical Assistant is a cure for AIDS. I feel like everyday they are coming up with new medicines to treat people and people are living longer lifetimes. For people with the disease, I feel that there is hope because they are really working hard to find a cure.” Natasha Donahue