Gene Denton Essay 5

In my community, one of the most urgent needs is not just access to healthcare, but understanding it. For many immigrant and refugee families, especially those who do not speak English fluently, the healthcare system feels confusing, overwhelming, and sometimes even frightening. Important information gets lost between languages, cultural expectations, and complex systemic. As a result, people delay care, misunderstand diagnoses, or rely on incomplete information. I have seen how this gap affects not just individual patients, but entire families.

This need became clear to me through small but powerful moments. I have watched relatives sit quietly in clinics, nodding even when they did not fully understand what the doctor was saying. I have helped family members read medical forms filled with unfamiliar terms, trying to simplify them into something meaningful. In those moments, I realized that healthcare is not just about treatment. It is about communication, trust, and making people feel seen and understood.

After high school, I plan to study biological sciences on a pre medicine track. I am especially interested in understanding how the human body works at both the molecular and systems level, but I am equally drawn to areas like public health, ethics, and sociology. These fields help explain why certain communities face more barriers than others and how those barriers can be reduced. I want my education to go beyond memorizing information. I want it to help me understand people, their environments, and the systems that shape their experiences.

My long term goal is to become a physician, but not just one who diagnoses and treats illness. I want to be someone who improves how care is delivered, especially for underserved communities. I have already taken steps toward this path by pursuing a medical assistant certification while still in high school. Through hands on training, I have learned how to take vital signs, understand basic clinical procedures, and interact with patients in a healthcare setting. These experiences have shown me how small actions, like explaining a process clearly or offering reassurance, can completely change how a patient feels.

In the future, my education will allow me to address the need I see in my community in more meaningful and lasting ways. Studying biology will give me the scientific foundation to understand disease and treatment. At the same time, exploring public health and social sciences will help me recognize patterns in access, prevention, and health outcomes. With this knowledge, I hope to contribute to more inclusive healthcare environments where language and cultural differences are not barriers but factors that are respected and understood.

I also want to focus on improving communication in healthcare settings. This could mean working with multilingual resources, advocating for better patient education systems, or simply taking the time to ensure that every patient fully understands their care. My experiences have taught me that even the most advanced medical treatment can fall short if the patient does not feel informed or comfortable.

Ultimately, I hope to return to and continue working with communities like my own, where I can combine medical knowledge with cultural awareness. I want to be someone who not only provides care, but also builds trust and reduces the fear that many people feel when seeking help.

The need in my community is clear, but so is the possibility for change. Through my education and future career, I hope to be part of that change by making healthcare more accessible, more understandable, and more human.