Humans of the Mod: Jaisa Evanoff
Welcome to Humans of the Mod!
This is a recurring series where we feature OU Med students and highlight what makes our students interesting, fun, and more than just science-fact-memorizing-machines. This project was born out of a desire to build connections between students within medical school, to garner insight into the lives of our classmates outside of the walls of the classroom, and, most importantly, to celebrate the diversity and unique perspectives of our student body.
Without further ado, meet Jaisa Evanoff, to whom I am eternally grateful for agreeing to be the first Human of the Mod:
Why medicine?
“I had a lot of family members growing up who were sick. I was always intrigued by hospitals, so after freshman year of college I worked as a CNA. I had a patient one time at night time having a seizure, but only the doctors could give medicine. Since no doctors were there overnight, we had to call and wake the doctor for permission to administer the medications which took a long time. After that experience, I wanted to know everything I could to help in those situations. It was an all around frustrating experience that I never wanted to be helpless in again.”
For those of us who don’t know, what is a CNA?
“A CNA is a certified nurse aid. [The job involved] taking people to the bathroom, changing adult diapers, things like that. I shadowed a nurse in high school, and being a CNA seemed like a good foot in the door to medicine. ”
What’s your favorite thing about OU?
“I am very pleasantly surprised by the friendships I’ve formed both inside my mod and outside my mod. I think strong friendships are very important in medical school because it’s its own world that other people don’t understand.”
If you have a night off, how do you spend it?
“I typically have dinner with friends, but it’s a bad habit because I spend obscene amounts of money on food. I went to a small high school with only 19 people in my class, so I was close friends with most of them. I try to make an effort to still see them and my college friends.”
Do you have any restaurant suggestions?
“Hall’s Pizza Kitchen. If you go you have to get the burrata, but I actually haven’t had a pizza there that I don’t like.” Jaisa’s honorable Mentions: The Press, Empire, The Mule
If you were a kitchen utensil/appliance, what would you be?
“I tried coming up with something clever and witty, but I’ve decided ice cream scoop just because it goes hand in hand with ice cream and that’s just how I live my life.”
If not medicine, what would you do?
“In all reality, I had no practical back up plan. But my alternate job in a world where shelters aren’t overrun would be breeding dogs. Not in a puppy mill sense, but in a one at a time raising puppies sense, if that makes sense.”
