Beyond the campus walls: ATSU-SOMA student at El Rio CHC finds a perfect fit with his personal mission
Posted: November 4, 2014
For Julian Hirschbaum, OMS III, A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona (ATSU-SOMA), having his second-year medical school community campus experience at El Rio Community Health Center (CHC) in Tucson, Ariz., was a natural transition from his volunteer experiences in serving the medically underserved. Hirschbaum currently serves as the health disparities officer for the Student Osteopathic Medical Association. In addition, he also co-founded Capacidad, a student organization whose main goal is to train community health workers in remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon, empowering their communities to train more community health workers.
Since 1970, El Rio CHC has been providing accessible and affordable healthcare primarily to underserved populations in greater Tucson. Approximately 26 percent of patients seen at El Rio have no health insurance, and 76 percent are at or below the federal poverty line.
A call to serve the underserved as a physician
Hirschbaum has always felt being a physician would be a fulfilling profession. He remembers his father telling him a doctor is among one of the most honorable professions. He passed away when Hirschbaum was just age 5.
One of the first instances in which Hirschbaum truly knew he would become a physician was when he was on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua and witnessed the gross shortage of healthcare providers. “There was no nurse, midwife, or doctor around anywhere closer than three hours by boat,” said Hirschbaum. “I came to understand, through community service projects and public health-related classes, that there were also many communities in the U.S. where healthcare practitioners were desperately needed.”
Osteopathic medicine appealed to Hirschbaum for two reasons. “First, as a group of physicians, osteopathic medicine historically arose out of the need for doctors in underserved areas, and second, I admired the way in which the humanity of medicine is incorporated via touch, into the practice of osteopathy,” says Hirschbaum.
Choosing a medical school
“When I was volunteering on the Arizona-Mexico border and working with migrants and those who had recently been deported, I attended a Binational Health Conference where I met El Rio’s Pasqua Yaqui clinical director and El Rio’s former regional medical director of education (RDME), Dr. Laura de la Torre. She spoke to me about ATSU-SOMA and its mission of training future primary care providers to practice in areas lacking access to healthcare. I am a strong proponent of primary care and its power to mitigate health disparities, and I believe that future doctors need to be knowledgeable and concerned about the social determinants of healthcare. ATSU-SOMA has taught me these things and is preparing me with real-world experience. In addition, I chose ATSU because of the experience we have from the start of our second year. I feel that my time in the clinic has taught me more about patient care than any textbook ever could.”
RDMEs at El Rio helping to train Hirschbaum are Drs. Chris Dixon and Roy Wagner. Dr. Dixon, who has been an RDME for about three months and whose background is in family medicine says, “The best part of being an RDME is working with the students, teaching and learning from them, and seeing their excitement to learn and progress in their ability to care for patients.”
He loves working for El Rio because the people he works with are dedicated to fulfilling El Rio’s mission, which involves providing comprehensive quality healthcare to improve the health and well-being of the patients in the local community, which is also the community where Dr. Dixon grew up.
Dr. Ray Wagner, who has been an RDME at El Rio for five years and is a pediatrician, echoes Dr. Dixon sentiments about training ATSU-SOMA students. “Teaching is an honor and integral to the profession,” says Dr. Wagner. “The best part of being an RDME is sharing knowledge and teaching /learning daily. It is an opportunity to teach and be a mentor to students.” Dr. Wagner also added ATSU fits in with his personal mission of being a lifelong learner and continuing to serve those in need.
Future plans
Hirschbaum plans to continue filling the primary care gap and serve the underserved when he graduates from medical school.
“I will continue volunteering with people whose health needs are not met by the healthcare system,” says Hirschbaum. “I have been working with migrants from Mexico and Central America for several years and feel a very strong connection to that unique population. I also plan to continue work with Capacidad. In addition to working abroad, I also want to provide primary healthcare to those who are underserved in the United States. I would really like to work in a CHC and build relationships with my patients over their lifetime.”
Beyond the campus walls features students and ATSU-SOMA faculty who are part of our 12 Community Health Center campus partnerships throughout the country. For more photos from El Rio CHC check out ATSU’s Facebook page.