Angelique's Afterthoughts: Thursday 3/18

Thursday was by far my favorite day spend in DC. I think we all gained a lot from our experiences at Thrive DC and Christ House. While Thrive DC was amazing, I was especially moved by our experience at Christ House. Pictured above, their mission is "to provide comprehensive health care for sick, homeless men and women and assist them in addressing critical issues to help break the cycle of homelessness." According to their website's description, "A 34-bed health care facility, Christ House is a temporary residence for those who are homeless and sick. It is a place where they can receive medical care, social services, nutritious meals, and plenty of rest." This sounds like a very noble goal in and of itself. But it really hits you how wonderful the services they provide are when you listen to the patients speak about their experiences with Christ House.

We visited Christ House with the plan of providing diet and exercise education to the patients residing there. While our efforts at providing a structured presentation were somewhat thwarted by the patients' desires to tell their stories and experiences, I felt good about the information we were able to relay. If nothing else, I felt like the patient's very much enjoyed the chance to talk with us. At the end of our presentation, one of the patients began to talk about how appreciative he was of the staff at Christ House, and what a wonderful job they all do. He reported that this was actually his second time at the facility, and that both hospitalizations were excellent experiences. He went on and on, just talking about how great everyone was that took care of him. He was so appreciative. It made me think of what an underserved and overlooked population this is. Just a little bit of time and decency on the part of the staff were all it took for the patient to be completely wowed. Everyone at Christ House obviously made it their responsibility to treat each patient as an individual and with respect. It made me really think about the work I do now, and the work I want to do in the future. I want my patients to think of me in the same way that man was thinking about the staff at Christ House. I want to be that provider that always treats patients as people, with respect and dignity.