HELLO, I'M
Alejandra Diaz Ortiz
Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Student at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
About Me
My name is Alejandra Montserrat Diaz Ortiz, however, most call me Alex. I am from Woodstock, Illinois which is roughly four hours aways from campus. I am the youngest in my family with one older sister and three older brothers. With both of my parents being immigrants from Latin America, growing up I would hear many stories about they adapted to their life in America and all their hardships. It was in these memories where I learned to place a strong value on empathy. In placing emphasis on being empathetic, I can make decisions that are based on others feelings and allow me to think of ways to be more inclusive.
Recently I have had the opportunity to work in a pharmacy and was able to learn about the importance of having essential health information provided in one's native language. It was on many occasions that I would be met with relief from Hispanic patients because they felt more comfortable to ask for more information in their native language. Which is why this experience has influenced my decision to pursue a career in healthcare that will allow me to do my part in overcoming language barriers in patient care.
Having this goal in mind is what led me to choose the University of Illinois. Compared to the other schools I applied to, the University of Illinois offered far more opportunities to grow academically and as an individual. With regards to my major, it was important that it allowed me to focus on difficulties that minorities go through in our country, which is why I felt so confident in majoring in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. Built into this curriculum, I can learn about the growing diversity in healthcare, gain a holistic view of health, and gain patient care experience.
However, with the future goals that I intend to pursue, I am aware of the growth and guidance that I need to work on to get to that point. My intrinsic motivation helps me stay focused in such that I enjoy being challenged because it allows me to remain curious.. Therefore, in participating in I-LEAP, I hope to develop leadership skills and gain confidence in my ability to use the resources that are available to attain my goals.
Career Research
My ideal future career would be as a Physician Assistant. This health profession entails overseeing the well-being of others and being able to treat their conditions under the supervision of another physician. There are many experiences that led me to be interested in pursuing this
career, one of them being witnessing how my mother struggled with advocating for my grandparents' care and her experience as a CNA. In viewing her frustrations, I felt strongly about pursuing a career where I could help patients feel more comfortable understanding their health
and could provide them care in Spanish.
On top of those experiences, my personal experiences as a patient and as a technician have influenced my interest in health. After an injury, I had been assigned physical therapy and it was an enlightening experience. I was able to see the importance of having professions that focus on rehabilitation and equip patients with exercises to prevent further injuries. My most recent experience to influence my interest was becoming a pharmacy technician. This opportunity allowed me to develop a greater understanding of the connections among the health system and
the importance of explaining what prescriptions are for and how they affect the body. It is because of these experiences that I feel enthusiastic about becoming a PA.
In order to achieve this career, I must ensure that I am a well-rounded individual to gain admittance into a PA program. In the next four years, my schedule must include courses that satisfy the prerequisites for admission, as well as include courses that will help me diversify my understanding of different cultures to satisfy my undergraduate major. In becoming a well- rounded candidate, I also look to become involved in some of the student organizations on campus such as the Pre-Pa club and the Pre-Health Latino Undergrad Society. Joining these RSOs will provide me with more information about volunteering opportunities available and hear from professionals in healthcare.
Along with joining RSOs and being on top of prerequisites, I also look to find ways to gain patient contact hours. A way in which I hope to gain these hours is through taking a nursing assistant certification program at my local community college so that I can then gain my contact hours working in a nursing home or as an at-home aide. Currently, my ideal work environment would be one in which it is collaborative, flexible, fast-paced, always has something to do, and allows for opportunities to problem solve. In looking into becoming a CNA for patient experience, it will allow me to solidify if direct patient contact is what I am interested in and if it aligns with my current work environment preferences.
Over the next couple of years, if my preferences and circumstances change, I believe I’ll still be interested in a position in the health field. A career that I think will align with these preferences would be to work toward becoming a Registered Nurse. In obtaining a nursing assistant certification, I will be able to work toward patient contact and can take a gap year to strengthen my skills before pursuing nursing. Becoming an RN would satisfy both my work preferences and aspirations as it would allow me to help others with their health while also being an environment that allows for collaboration and problem-solving.
Community Service
From my experience, community service is important to be involved in because it creates an opportunity to give back to the community that allowed me to grow as an individual. As well as helping foster connections among the community and allowing us to support one another. Some of the ways that I was able to give back were through volunteering opportunities at my local church. On most weekends, I volunteered with the media team, and last summer I had the opportunity of volunteering as a childcare assistant during service hours.
Both volunteering experiences were vastly different in terms of tasks and execution, but they were very insightful in terms of what I am interested in and what I could work on. Helping in media required many technical skills, quick and efficient communication, and adaptability. It was less of a collaborative experience and tested my ability to learn new technology. Volunteering in media allowed our service to be accessible to people through captions on the screens for in-person members and we provided a Livestream for members who could not physically attend.
While assisting with childcare, it was more collaborative, required creativity, and put into practice what I had learned from the early childhood education classes I had taken in high school. Throughout the experience, I was able to practice altering my words so that it could be at the appropriate level of understanding and being able to work together with my supervisor to oversee activities and create lesson plans.
With these experiences, I did not meet new people, but I was able to demonstrate my capabilities to my superiors and in return was able to earn more responsibilities such as overseeing special projects for holiday events. Along with these new responsibilities, these volunteering opportunities reinforced my preferences in pursuing a career that was collaborative and did not have a set routine. It also reinforced my communication skills that will be useful in any future profession because I will be able to ensure that I can choose the appropriate diction for each person so that it can be understood. Volunteering also improved my ability to adapt to changes which can be beneficial to my career as it will improve how I can act under pressure.
These skills will help me as a Physician Assistant in the future because I will encounter patients with different vocabulary and levels of understanding of medical terminology, so in being able to adapt my diction I will create an atmosphere that allows patients to feel more aware of their diagnosis. As well as, allow me to think critically about patient's symptoms and provide accurate diagnoses under pressure.
Overall, volunteering was beneficial to understanding what profession I want to pursue. Volunteering allowed me to support members in my community by making the services accessible and by providing developmentally appropriate lessons to children over the summer. As well as reinforced my idea of going into a more interactive and collaborative career.
Defining Leadership
I would define leadership as being able to set an example of ideal behaviors such as someone who is dependable, innovative, organized, proactive and can handle responsibility. A leader is someone who can guide others and can aid in planning out how to achieve a goal with others’ abilities and resources in mind.
One competency essential for a leader is openness because one must be receptive to others' ideas and adapt if necessary. Openness also allows leaders to define their own identities as they can decipher which ideas they agree with and which ideas they might be less receptive to. This competency is a strength because if one is not open to new ideas then they are stagnant and not developing new ideas. Being open allows them to be more productive and creates a more accepting environment because people will be able to share their ideas without being embarrassed. As a college student, being open is important because we are surrounded by many opportunities and being open allows us to progress further into our future ambitions. This is also beneficial in our community because there are diverse cultures around us and being open to their customs and experiences will allow us to have a better understanding of our peers that can foster greater connections.
A competency that I would classify as my weakness and would like to improve upon would be communication. It is important that a leader can interact and communicate with others to get their ideas across and develop connections with one another. This is an area in which I lack because while I can get my thoughts across on more one-on one settings, I struggle with voicing my opinions in group settings. Having effective communication skills is beneficial as a college student because it makes it easier to collaborate with peers and voice concerns. To improve this competency, I intend to seek out more settings in which I can practice voicing my thoughts such as in joining an RSO that places an emphasis on being collaborative and vocal. Another way in which I intend to improve my communication skills is through put ting myself out of my comfort zone and trying to participate in large discussions such as in my chemistry discussion section. In doing this, I hope to familiarize myself with voicing my ideas in a larger group setting so that I can be a more collaborative and vocal leader.