AS716 Reflection – Week 1 -2

I just completed a week of orientation followed by my first week of classes as a pharmD student

and a 2022 pharmD candidate at American University of Health Sciences (AUHS) school of

pharmacy. AUHS is a Christian based minority-serving university that welcomes students with

diverse back grounds. During my first week on campus there was a lot to take in and a culture I

began to hear about. I learned about the five pillars of AUHS: Christian Values, Academic

Excellence, Research & Scholarship, Diversity & Cultural Competency, and Service. I felt it

was fitting to learn more about AUHS’s core Christian principles on which they operate upon as

we are now part of the AUHS. One of the first things I noticed was that each person in my class,

including myself, has a unique and diverse background. When I think of diversity, each member

of the staff and faculty has a unique background but some commonalities I observed that they all

have is that they are believers of Christian values and they passionate about what they do as

pharmacists, educators, and members of a diverse community.

When I think of service, AUHS is guided by a strong faith in God and a continuing belief that

there is a higher purpose – to serve God and we can do that by serving others who are in need.

The AUHS staff as well as students and alum believe in serving God in everything we do. We

choose to focus on serving underprivileged communities that may not be able to access or can

afford health care services that we can provide. I think that as health care professionals, our

profession revolves around helping others through healthcare, but it is also our duty as members

of this community to give back to those communities.

The very first lecture I attended as a student was AS716 Judeo-Christian Values in Patient Care -

Old Testament I which was instructed by Dr. Mok Chong. I learned about the core Christian

values in which AUHS operates which are of love and caring for human kind (compassion),
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justice, and respect. It seemed very appropriate to learn and understand more about the Christian

values of AUHS from someone who has been a part of the AUHS family for at least eight years

and represents the same Christian Values this school is based upon.

During orientation week, I watched multiple videos that demonstrated AUHS staff, students, and

faculty serving and giving back right here in this community where many underprivileged

individuals are able to get to. I learned about many of the events that are held on campus each

year that are organized to serve the underprivileged communities and individuals who need it

most. I watched the founder of AUHS washing someone’s feet and while this may be something

small, you can see that it meant a lot to that person. These acts of kindness demonstrate love and

caring for humankind (compassion), empathy, respect for all mankind, and justice.

We need to set an example and make a positive impact so that individuals who often get

overlooked and are treated with less respect than they deserve are treated fairly and equally. This

to me is an example of justice. To me this message was truly inspiring and uplifting to learn

about AUHS.

Dr. Chong also told us a story about his friend and the message of love, compassion, and

empathy behind it was important as money is not everything. It is important to have empathy for

others. His friend was a successful community pharmacist who was able to sell his pharmacy to a

well known pharmacy chain for almost three million dollars and although he was seemingly

healthy, he suffered a stroke and became disabled but it was the decline in quality of life that was

the most difficult for Dr. Chong to see his friend go through. Dr. Chong later learned from his

friend, who was in his late forties, had passed away. This story hit close to home for me because

after my first year in pharmacy school at another university, my only sibling and older sister

suffered a massive stroke that left her completely paralyzed on her entire left side. My family
AS716 Reflection – Week 1 -2

lives out of state and my parents do not speak English well. I had to do a lot of translating for my

parents over the phone and in person. In dealing with some of the health care professionals, there

were some that lacked compassion for another human being and empathy and often left my

parents confused because they simply didn’t care enough to help them in the way they would’ve

wanted someone to help their own parents. I felt frustrated for my parents who were just trying to

understand the situation, the medical terms that were completely new to them and also trying to

understand the questions they were being asked. My sister survived and is still bound to a wheel

chair but is able to walk with the help of walking devices and we are grateful each and every day.

At any moment this could happen to me or anyone else and your status and it is so important that

we treat people with kindness and empathy because if we can do that, we can better connect with

our patients and build trust if we can show them that we are empathetic about what they are

experiencing and ultimately, this helps to promote better communication with patients and their

family and allows us to gather more pertinent information so that we can provide patient-

centered care. When you do not use the muscles in your legs, they begin to shrink. My sister did

not do physical therapy regularly or go to the gym on her own for a while at first until she

worked with one empathetic physical therapist who had enough care and compassion to ask her

why she wasn’t going physical therapy. My sister and my father did not know which gym to go

to or what to do there. The physical therapist asked my sister, if I go with you and show you, will

you go to the gym. She took them to the gym one time and now they go several times a week and

all they needed was someone to care enough to ask and show them because everything was so

new to them and my father does not speak English well enough to understand everything he

reads that is written in English. My mom is so grateful for the physical therapist as my sister has

made huge strides in progress and is able to walk with a cane and a leg brace now. My mom has
AS716 Reflection – Week 1 -2

pictures of the physical therapist on her refrigerator along with photos of my sister completing a

marathon. If it were not for that physical therapist who started it all and gave my sister the right

help and direction that she needed, my sister might not have made all the progress she has to this

day but the most important thing she has done for my sister is helped her get back quality of life

that she had lost due to her stroke and that is priceless. A pharmacist took the time to ask my

sister “how are you doing, are you ok?” as she noticed signs that indicated my sister was not

coping well with the loss of her mobility, understandably. As a result, my sister was referred to a

therapist that she continues to see today. This person exemplified characteristics of a caring

pharmacist by being non-judgmental, caring enough to ask “how are you doing”,

communicating with her patient, being a good listener, understanding, and showing empathy.

This to me are examples of how to develop a caring ministry, building a pharmacist-patient

relationship, and providing patient-centered care. The pharmacist cared about my sister’s well

being and quality of life.

What I took away from the first week is that we at AUHS believe that every single human being,

all walks of life, deserves and should have the right to health care as well as have a decent

quality of life that starts with wellness of the mind, body and spirit. This means that health care is

not a privilege for select individuals while being less accessible to others based on any criteria

nor should it be so that certain individuals receive priority or better access to health care over

others. It means that healthcare is a basic right that every human being should be given

regardless of an individual’s back ground, beliefs, religion, financial status, ethnicity, race,

gender, education, sexual orientation, age, mental state, residence, and etc. It also means that

every human being matters just as much as any other and that each of us deserves the same right

to health care no matter what and should be treated equally with the same respect and care as
AS716 Reflection – Week 1 -2

everyone else. Being empathetic is not a trait or characteristic that you are born with and is

learned through experiences as well as interactions with all walks of life.

What I also took away from week 1 in this class is that we are all human beings and at the end of

the day, it is important to be kind, compassionate, and empathetic to every person you encounter

and to give back to the underprivileged because not only are we health care professionals but

most of us are minorities including myself. My mother and father barely speak English and have

had hardships and were almost homeless when the first arrived in America. That homeless

person could be my mother or father and that could also be me one day. They could have

children that depend on them or that they are working to reunite with or they could be all alone

and showing them some empathy can make such a difference for someone going through

hardships. As health care professionals we should be the examples we would want to see around

us and lead by example for our children and future generation.