Reflecting on a Year of Service

Hi everyone! My name is Jullie Makhoul. I grew up in Allentown, PA, with my two younger siblings. We were raised by two immigrant parents with low financial security, which was common in neighboring families at the time. As a student, I was afforded a unique understanding of diversity and the inequality inherent in resource allocation. This motivated me to help my community and spend my gap year after college dedicated to serving through AmeriCorps. As a result, I had the opportunity to serve as a Community Health Worker (CHW) at my host site, The Wright Center.

We know that health barriers come in many forms, so as a CHW, I assisted and screened our patients based on the social determinants of health (SDOH) to overcome these barriers. My responsibilities included facilitating safe and reliable housing for patients, assisting patients with transportation needs, addressing food and insurance insecurities, and even improving health literacy and communication between patients and providers. In addition, I worked closely with my patients to connect them to resources within the community based on their needs. I also created relationships with the medical providers and other health professionals at The Wright Center to support my patients, as many times, the same patients came back with different insecurities, needing additional resources. In this position, I have gained a trustful relationship with patients and sharpened my empathy, communication, and commitment skills.

As I reflect on my past year of service, I recognize the thousands of patients I have been able to assist by improving their health, well-being, and quality of life. In addition, I have connected with and been exposed to different sides of patients. As an aspiring physician, I will take the newfound role and lessons as a CHW to better understand and treat my patients. Serving as an Americorps member has allowed me to want to influence the healthcare system to provide adequate care by understanding issues beyond a medical diagnosis. At the end of the day, how can we medically treat our patients without treating and understanding the non-medical factors that directly influence their health?