Blog Post #1

I am currently a freshman at Lehigh University studying biology with a minor in health medicine and society. At a very young age I always dreamed of working in the medical field because I want to make an impact on someone’s life by making them feel better. So when I heard of an opportunity that would allow me to do that I jumped at the opportunity. The project I am on is Cultural Appropriate Birthing Places in the Philippines and I am drawn to this because the project works within the medical realm. It is also a project that affects me deeply. My mother told me that I was a c-section as a baby and when the doctors told her that she was scared. In the rural town that my mother was born in they were technological behind. Most women died when giving birth or the child would come out with many complications. Also the culture in my mother’s village did not allow women to travel to hospitals or take medications. This was my mother’s  understanding of birth and it stuck with her. However when she came to the United States it was completely different. The United States was more advanced with technology and with any little complication in surgery they would fix it with medicine. The fear that my mother had when she was informed is what made me so drawn to this particular project. I believe that no women should be giving birth in fear because they are not informed of the different birthing practices.

I envision this course making me a better student because I will be able to learn  things I typically would not learn in a classroom. I will learn how to properly conduct a research, how to write a published paper, create a proper presentation and learn how to become a leader. Besides all the possible things I will learn in this course. I think the one thing that this course will change me in a better student than other courses is the people I meet. I will be able to meet other students from different majors, areas of the world and background. In other classrooms I will never be able to experience this because typically all the students in the class would be the same major. Although they may be different areas of the world and from different backgrounds but when communicating with people from different majors. People from different majors will bring different insights that I would not be able to have if I were communicating with people of the same major. I will be able to communicate with others better and know how to interact with people. Also the class will allow me to talk to people who are in the job field, who are at the top of their profession, and publish papers. It will teach me how to interact in a professional manner and will allow me to make connections.

I believe a way to tackle this problem is to create  cheap glasses. People believe that glasses are intricate to make and cost a lot. This however is not true. Yes most glasses are not made with plastic and metal and although metal is not readily accessible in Kenya, plastic is. They could take plastic that could have potentially ended up in landfills and create them to fit in the design of a basic glasses.The other issue is how will they be able to access different prescription. I believe that we give a bunch of lens that most people typically need such as nearsightedness and farsightedness at a very low degree. That way even though the prescription is not the correct prescription it is not too strong that it could possible damage the person more. I believe that the lens can be distributed to local hospitals. If someone were in need of glasses the person could go to their local hospital but before going they will need to create the frame of the glasses. After the glasses are made they will be able to go to the local doctor and they will be able to check up on their eyes. When the doctor has determined the prescription of the eye they will give the person one higher or one of lesser prescription.

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