'financial abilities' - a summer research program. this is a short answer.

The question is: seeks individuals who will advance the goals of diversity in the medical and dental profession, reduce health-care disparities, and/or improve health care to underserved populations. Please share your experiences in one or all of these areas.

There are people today who live in unfortunate conditions where it is very difficult to receive treatments due to financial influence. Then there are people who receive exceptional treatment because of their financial abilities. I believe it is our absolute responsibility to help others with health related issues. society puts wealth in such a high pedestal which does not reflect the founding fundamentals of this country. This is blinding the fact that life should not have numeric value. The concept of money should not determine if one can live or die .People need to know and understand the concept of my chances of survival should be the same for you. This is an example of two extreme elements that people live with everyday. The idea of unequal ability to survive and heal reminds me of an experience that I had. About three years ago I've been having constant asthma attacks, my visits to the hospital were very frequent. I would be rushed to the hospital almost every week. It got to the point where all the nurses knew me and had my chart ready. This was such a difficult period in my life. My grades were decreasing due to my attendance in school; my social life was out the window, but most of all I am grateful that I wake up alive and have another chance to live. This idea of health care disparity hit home for me because I witnessed it myself.

During my weekly visits to the hospital, I was suffering from loud wheezing and chest pain. I was in so much pain to the point that I wanted to cry. The doctors gave me steroids for my lungs and hooked me on Xopenex which helped to relax my muscles in my airway. After an hour my pain was fading and I started to feel better. That day the emergency room was hectic and there was not enough space. I ended up sharing my room with another asthmatic patient. But the difference between her and I was that she looked like she was passing out and looked very pale. I remember looking at her monitor and seeing her heart rate decreasing but not dramatically. Then I noticed that her blood oxygen count was very low which seemed very bad because doctors were attaching her to other medications. I felt bad and scared because that could be me one day. A night of fighting hard she made it and I was so happy for her. For some reason I felt a connection because she was the only one I knew with severe asthma like myself.

That night we were both were hooked on airways just in case we stop breathing over night. She was still in a lot of pain and there was nothing I could do about it. When she was sleeping that night I heard the doctors talking about giving her some strong medication but the financial adviser informed them that her insurance will not cover certain medications. Her nurse came in and gave her parents her insurance with a bill. I never got the chance to see the bill nor ask about it because I thought it might be rude but the expression on her parents face gave it away. It seemed as if they were living paycheck by paycheck. I felt bad and guilty because her parents have to find out a way to pay the bill and I did not. It was unfair that I received excellent treatment and medication because of my insurance and she couldn't. My point of this story is that being healthy and being alive should not be a burden. People should not hesitate to seek medical attention fearing its cost and the lack of treatments. I believe that we need to be a healthy nation in order for us to have a healthy future.

One of my ultimate goals after medical school is to open my own clinic, a clinic where people are not afraid to enter because of its financial burden. I believe that we all have our own individual missions that God has for us and I believe that opening a non for profit clinic is my mission and thousands of others. I have seen the prejudice acts of health care happening in my own neighborhood where people are selling their cars and homes to try to save their loved ones. I know that I cannot save and change the world all by myself. But I do truly believe if we are passionate about what we want to do; it will be a great way to start helping people in American and other parts of the world.

I believe if one element of diversity is rejected then we are missing a piece of an uncompleted puzzle. If we eliminate one aspect of thought or idea then we do not have a complete solution. And if we only encourage the affluent and ignore the unfortunate then there will surely be no conclusion. We must know the true definition of diversity and understand its infinite power. I believe that in order for us to have a balance in life we must focus on what is important. We must think about the quality of treatments in the health field not the quantity.

-------------- I think ''constraint'' is a better fit here rather than using ''influence''



--------- sounds too exagerated


------------ this is a confusing statement. The reader does not get your idea clearly. Better re-phrase it : (

Better you give us your prompt and with that we can give our comments better