Back to School 2020

I already have a Bachelor of Science in Occupational and Environmental Safety and Health from the University of the West Indies, so the transition to Occupational and Environmental (Industrial) Hygiene was pretty organic, with added influences from my lectures and professors. I have a specific interest in occupational hygiene as it allows me a hands-on approach in ensuring workers’ health, which should be of the utmost concern for any organization. For my practicum I will look at ergonomics in the post-mortem room at the BC Animal Health Centre. I will be conducting ergonomic assessments with the aim of identifying work-related activities that pose a risk to employees and that may result in injuries, such as musculoskeletal injuries, and making recommendations to mitigate those risks. I am most looking forward to wrapping up my studies, but I’m also eager to see how the context of teaching and lectures will change given the current restrictions due to the pandemic. It has been pretty hard being in a different country with a health crisis of such gravity and not having the support system I’m used to with my family back in Jamaica. But ultimately, I realized that worrying will not change anything and I have to deal with the present. I am also super grateful for my classmates Daniella, Fiona, and Cheryl who constantly checked in and kept in constant communication, which lifted my spirits. I’m a series junkie, so I have either started and completed various new series or caught up on my regulars. I have also gotten back into baking (not bread, lol).

I was inspired to pursue genetic counselling because it allows me to fulfill my career aspirations of helping and working with a variety of people, in the context of something I’m fascinated by. Genetics is a fascinating field – everything that makes us unique, yet similar to one another, is encoded in our tiny bundles of DNA, and even the slightest changes to these codes can have large impacts. As genetic counsellors, we get to learn about the effects of these changes, and then translate this knowledge into useful information for our patients and provide emotional support to them through their hardships – and I think that’s very meaningful work! Plus, genetic counsellors get to wear many hats (they’re also researchers, teachers, scientists, detectives, and more), and genetics is a rapidly growing field, which means I always get to learn something new. I am most looking forward to spending more time with my classmates! Unfortunately, our first year together and summer plans changed because of the pandemic, and some of my classmates returned to their home provinces, so I am excited to be learning (and having fun) alongside them again in the fall. I am also looking forward to expanding my clinical experiences and collecting data for my research project in the coming year. Recognizing and validating feelings of discomfort, stress, and low motivation were important first steps for me. When everything first started, our graduate advisor, Dr. Jehannine Austin, talked to us about how we are all feeling grief: over the loss of things we had been looking forward to, the loss of structure and routine that I was comfortable with, and the loss of certainty over what the near future would look like. Identifying grief made it easier to process as a normal emotional response to what is happening, and find ways to cope. I try to add variety to my days by splitting my time up for work and leisurely activities. On days where I feel less productive or motivated, I try to be kind to myself by, for example, allowing myself to take the break I need instead of feeling bad about it. Keeping in touch with friends and family, re-visiting old hobbies, and finding silver linings/things to look forward to, have also been helpful in improving personal wellness. Finally, personal wellness on a physical level, which includes staying hydrated and active, and maintaining good personal hygiene to stay healthy, is important too! Physically-distanced picnics in the park are my favourite, and I also enjoy video calls with friends to catch up.

During medical school I realized that anesthesia combined all of my favourite aspects of medicine, from the clinical application of physiology and pharmacology to the management of critically unwell patients. I like that anesthesia is an intellectually stimulating specialty dealing with acute medicine, while at the same time involving hands-on procedures. There is a lot of diversity within the specialty. We work with patients of all ages for all types of surgeries and in other settings such as the chronic pain clinic and intensive care unit (ICU). Last but not least, it’s rewarding to be able to help patients through their most stressful times. This year I’m looking forward to my subspecialty anesthesia rotations in areas such as thoracic and neurosurgery, regional anesthesia, pediatrics and chronic pain. For me, personal wellness involves getting outside into the mountains where I enjoy the solitude and experiencing natural landscapes. Over the last few months I’ve been enjoying trail running, scrambling (climbing rocky terrain without rope), and getting into mountain biking. Keeping in touch with friends and family has been key, whether that be through physically-distanced activities or over video calls. Scrambling in the Rockies with my partner and family this summer has been really fun while allowing physical distancing. As COVID-19 will be an ongoing issue, it will be important to continue precautions like physical distancing into our fall and winter activities. I look forward to ski touring, which by nature is a small group activity that can be physically distanced while still being safe.

I’ve always been interested in science and medicine, and like the idea of a career where I can problem solve and work with others. However, I was inspired to become a doctor from a positive experience I had with a surgeon. When I was younger, family illness was something I was largely unfamiliar with and my mom needed surgery. Her surgeon was able to put my family and I at ease and instill confidence in us by explaining the procedure in simple terms. This experience made me want to be able to help others in the same way. I am incredibly excited about pretty much everything, ranging from new friends to the curriculum, but I would have to say I am most excited to learn the essential hands-on skills! COVID-19 has made this more challenging, but I am very confident that we will find ways to work around it. This is definitely a challenging time for everyone, and requires quite a bit of adaptation. I feel that, because of the risks the pandemic poses to our physical health, it has become easier to forget about our mental health. I’ve tried to take care of myself by getting outdoors in socially-responsible ways which, in my opinion, has greatly helped both my mental and physical well-being. My favourite physically-distanced social activity would have to be whitewater kayaking, which needed to be adjusted a fair bit since the pandemic. Now, I’m able to whitewater kayak while minimizing exposure to my fellow paddlers, which has been great!