Student Critical Reflection: Analise Mendez

First year nursing student Analise Mendez is quickly self-identifying as an agent of social change. Through two Service-Learning courses in the spring (Ethics in Health Care with Lindsey Dean and English 1004 with Amy Wong) served at the Ritter Center and Canal UP! These two organizations provide services to people who are houseless and children from economically disadvantaged communities, respectively. Analise was also recognized in both courses as a representative to the Service Learning symposium. Below is her documentation of her experience with the Ritter Center under the guidance and support of Shaun Marshall.

I learned to smile and acknowledge more people on the streets. I’m really introverted and shy and have anxiety when approaching new people if I need anything, but I found it really easy to serve other people because I wasn’t really focusing on myself. I grew in being genuine and sincere in who I’m working with and really listen to what their needs.

Food insecurity goes hand in hand with poverty and homelessness. In Marin, rising rent, affluent neighborhoods, internalized racism, and other factors prevent some residents in the area from empathizing with the poor. Removing services for people who need them because “it’s not pretty” is selfish and deprives people of living the life they want to have [and the stability we all desire]. We don’t always know the circumstances that leads to homelessness, but regardless of how they ended up the way they did, why is caring about them such a controversy? When talking with clients [at the Ritter Center], I [hear how] they value talking in a safe space with no judgment; [and consequently] I expanded my views on compassion and caring for vulnerable populations.

From Theory…

Since taking Service Learning Ethics in Health Care, I developed [in] being an advocate for people who need support and uplifting their own voice. Course readings… encouraged my comprehension of the world outside my own, and opened my eyes to the injustices many communities face because [too often] people in charge forget to care. Class discussions created a space to voice my thoughts, listen and take in what everyone else was thinking, as well as question the limits we face when trying to come up with solutions to problems others created. As I’ve grown older and begun to understand what was going on in the surrounding political world, I find out that I barely scratched the surface on what was really going on. I knew our healthcare system was broken, but I didn’t understand exactly why. When I think about social justice, I used to be in fear of speaking out against what I thought was wrong and unjust.

… to Practice

The community experience reinforced the realities of low and no income people — they are human and deserve respect, decency, and even more care than the rest of our neighbors. A basic human right is our health, yet greed has robbed us of our opportunity to be healthy. When we aren’t healthy, and the system discriminates against people of color… we are not able to work and when we can’t work we can’t afford basic necessities needed to survive. This leads to social injustice. I have learned and begun to embrace advocacy and care. And I’m learning to use my voice and not to be afraid of the power I hold. As a future nurse, I know to care for my patients, and I am their primary advocate which [includes] speaking up. I care for their health, safety, dignity, and hope to take what they say into account when treating them. Benner writes in “Caring as a way of Knowing and not Knowing,” that “Caring shapes language and makes questions and issues visible for public debate… Effective caregiving requires more than intent or sentiment. It requires skill and knowledge and being in relation with others in ways that foster mutuality, empowerment, and growth” (44–45)

What I learned:

I became much more self aware by taking this class. I learned a lot about the disparities that is within Marin county both economically and racially. There is a lot of judgment against the homeless population. I don’t mean to be rude or anything but a lot of people are very self-involved and go out of their way to push against services that thousands of people use. I have also realized that though I still have a semester left before I start the nursing program, I feel like I know how to really care for patients and be an advocate for them. I learned a lot about being vulnerable, patient, open-minded, attending to the whole person, and having no judgments before meeting someone. From my community experience I realized that I want to work more with organizations who follow a whole person care model. I definitely will carry what I learned in this class with me in my future profession. I feel like an advocate already; it should be my responsibility to help the people I serve find their voice and use it to amplify their concerns and needs. If they aren’t heard, then it could be up to me to push others to continue on the fight and seek other help from organizers as well.