med student

Calling out the village people: Yes YOU!

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margaretmead101283 (2)This week thanks to our governments eternal love for holidays… for being such a poor country boy we sure do have a bunch of holidays but this post is not about that it’s about you…. As I was saying because of the holidays I got to come home to Roatan for this week, it has been great to spend time with my mom and sisters, meet with some people who have been helping me in my journey and see old friends. I LOVE my country and I love my island, Roatan is a very unique place filled with many wonderful people. People from all over the world come here to call this place home, or to get a view of the beauty that is found here.

Today I am calling some of those people out and I´m putting you on the spot.
I have seen some of the reporting concerning the local hospital but I refrained from commenting till I came home and could get a close up look. My friends what is going on with the hospital is a damn shame but it’s our fault. We have made great investment on this island our infrastructure is getting there we have some beautiful resorts we have some awesome restaurants yes our roads are awful and our hospital is …. Well I don’t need to tell you, but we have not invested in our human resource, education is a huge problem for us. Now I am not saying that we do not have highly educated people here because we do, but we need more. I was telling a friend, don’t you think this situation would be a lot different if the minister of health was someone from the island or if we had somebody in the minister´s office? Dr Raymond is an awesome doctor but he was left to hold the forth alone, but he couldn´t he needs reinforcement. we need Highly qualified people with a passion for our community and only then things will change.

Here is the good news, the cavalry is coming! But your help is needed!

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Consider this a shameless plug because well…. that´s what it is. See, for the past three years I have had a village of friends who have helped me on my journey to become a doctor with a message and a mission here in Honduras. Thanks to them next year I will be taking my last semester classes then I will start my rotations, But to do that I need your help I need you to dream with me.

I am running a fundraiser to raise 8000 dollars to cover a full year of medical school, without raising the money I would not be able to fulfil my calling. I have tried to tell some, it is great for us to have missionary trips and medical brigades and I sure appreciate the people who are willing to take the time and money to do that they fill such an important role that someday I hope to become one of them, it’s largely because of their influence in my life that I have a much different view on life than other guys who grow up in extreme poverty the way I did, but the best we can do is to help train people in the community our effect would be much greater and the ripple effect in doing so is really immeasurable.

I would like to one of those local strategic investments you can make today, I am asking you to help me on this journey. Please go on over to http://www.solsite.org and click the donate button today.  I cannot do this without your help. Please also consider sharing my story with your friends via Facebook. I greatly appreciate any action taken to help me. I know trying to raise 8000 dollars is hard but I must try, I am trusting God and YOU to help me get there.

I proudly continue working hard to be a community doctor. I continue to dream of helping and healing people and with your help. Please go on over to SOL today and chip in to help get me accross the finish line.Make sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication line, and please make sure to share this post with your friends. Also remember that all donations made via SOL are tax deductible.

I need 150 people to donate 48 dollars to reach my goal, friend I am calling on you to consider investing in me today, and to sharing my journey with your friends. If I could get a loan I would, I don’t mind graduating with some debt I just want to graduate, I just want an opportunity to be all that I can be, I want an opportunity to prove myself and to be the change I want to see in the world.

donate here now help me get over the finish line.

I am thankful to my mentors, friends, and supporters who continue to share my story with others.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Will you be a part of this?

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Dear Friends and Family,
I write this post with excitement, great Joy and hope for the future, as I continue my journey into medical school. As most of you know with help from Miss Peggy Stranges and Sol foundation I applied to and passed the admission testing, making more than the minimum requirement to enter medical school in Honduras in the summer of 2011.

My road to medical school has been challenging at best, as few students in my situation have tried to gain access to medical programs and succeeded, and of those who succeed to get in even fever actually get thru the program. I was born in less than ideal circumstances and have had and uphill battle all the way constantly beating long odds to overcome the challenges of life. I am the oldest of four siblings, and while growing up very poor with a single mother who did and awesome job considering the circumstances, I truly am a product of my family and communities hard work and perseverance, there are so many people that have invested time and energy in my journey way long before they even knew I was headed to medical school, Like Ptolemy and Neysa Matthews, and Joelle Fehlauer who came down to Honduras to volunteer time in a christian school I attended,all of whom made and incredible impression on me at a time when I was really struggling, fighting battles they knew nothing about.

I worked for three years at the local hospital in roatan, it was here that I truly became  inspired me to dream big and go beyond the expectations of my neighborhood. I know that inequities exist, and my curiosity for healing and justice deppened. I have made it my personal mission to improve conditions that prevent others from having equal treatment and access to education and healthcare resources. I have made it my mission to ease human suffering I believe this is the reason I was born.

My friends and mentors have said that I am a trailblazer, that I have taken the road less traveled, and that in the face of insurmountable challenges , I have overcome the greatest of obstacles. The reality is that I have had much help to be where I am today, and at every step of the way, I have encountered and relied on the kindness of friends, neighbors, teachers, and mentors to teach me and guide me through the process.

Now once more I must rely on the kindness of others to help me through my next step in medical school. Because Honduras really does not offer formal financial aid programs, or student loans, especially for poor people in medical school who´s parent has no valuable assets . I must fundraise to cover my medical school expenses in order to see my dream of becoming a community doctor come true. While I worked to pay my own way through high school, I am unable to work as a medical student due to the high volume of classes and information I will be required to learn over the next few years. I receive a partial scholarship from the foundation for the advancement of people administered by SOL foundation. which comes under review each year. This agreements as most of you probably already know requires that I raise part of the funds I need from the community.

It takes about 7000 dollars per year for me to stay in the program. I have a formula thru which Sol and Rotary provide roughtly 75% of this which leaves me to raise 1750 dollars per year. I have done this the past two years online with help from many friends. Well it is October I am about done with this year and it is time to do it again friends. I will be meeting with rotary and Sol in December to determine plans for the next year and whether they will continue funding me or not. But how about we start to raise our share and exceed it by them. I got help raising funds for this year from so many of you. Tricia, Anna, Nicki, Jennifer,Mark, Roatan homes, Peggy, Dave  and so many others shared my story and helped me raise the funds I needed for this year in about two weeks.

Friends, today I humbly ask you to dream with me. I am asking you to once again support my goal of becoming a physician by helping sponsor another year of my medical education, It would be impossible for me to do this without your help. My goal is to fundraise at least the 1750 dollars in order to help meet the 7000 dollars I will need for the next school year. . I am doing what I can in applying to scholarships, finding alternative measures of funding, and now asking for your support.

I know there are many other needs and I have seem so many request for money lately on Facebook for so many good causes, I also know that while we would like to help everyone there is only so much we can do. I have lamented how politicians are able to raise so much money from so many donors while many charities are lacking funding. But the truth is  one of the reasons they are able to do so is because a lot of people know about them.

Friend one of the best things you can do besides chipping in yourself is making sure to share this with your friends. I know there are many people who would be glad to help if they only knew about my dream and my story. After all, all I need is 1750 people to donate 1 dollar.

As I have mentioned before I am only able to continue on this journey because of the generous support of people like you, I would really appreciate it if you would go over to sol foundation website and make a donation of any amount to help me thru next year and to help me complete this program. I assure you I will honor that donation in loving service, and by making sure I am doing everything I can to pay it forward. Just make sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication box. Every penny sent to sol with the dedication line Natan Webster is administered to my scholarship Program, and is a foundational stone in helping me become a doctor with a message and a mission in Honduras.

http://www.solsite.org/

Cesar words resonate with my life goals of community work — “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.” I believe in the power we have as a community and hope that you can help me reach my dream of becoming a physician.
Thanks to the support of many I am about to finish and will soon be posting grades for macro-anatomy, neuro-anatomy,embryology,histology, and public health.

With your help next year, I’ll be able to finish physiology, bioquem, psychology, public health,microbiology, and genetics 

I proudly continue working hard to be a community doctor. I continue to dream of helping and healing people and with your help, I will be one step closer to creating a healthier, and more just world for all of us.
Please go on over to SOL today and chip in making sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication line, and please make sure to share this post with your friends. Also remember that all donations made via SOL are tax deductible.

donate here now

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Thank you!

Wow It´s not just me!!!

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I must admit I have been feeling the blues lately. It seems like all heaven and hell have come together to take me down this semester. I take one step forward and I´m pushed two step backward. Nothing has been working out the way it should, both in and outside of the classroom and it is very stressful and frustating. Then I found this article online and it really helped me. now I don´t think I need to see a doctor just yet but it sure helps to know that its not just me.

Anonymous asked you: hi, it’s me again. maybe i don’t have depression. maybe i’m just.. deficient in coping with things. i’m not happy with how i’m handling problems- i’m a pro at running away and freaking out later. is a simple thing such as random tears, negative thoughts and inability to handle daily stresses a warning sign big enough for a visit to the doc? i keep thinking and worrying about flunking, about dropping medschool….

Dear anonymous (and to anyone else experiencing a similar situation),

The short answer is yes, you are completely justified in seeking help. I need both hands and both feet to count the number of times I’ve seen doctors and counsellors and psychologists because I wanted to drop out of med school, because I felt like I wasn’t coping, and damn it, everyone around me was doing so well. 

Let’s be honest—med school is hard. I remember sitting in a lecture in second year, watching all the other students around me, and they were in perfect control of med school. They sat through lectures without falling asleep and without panicking about exams in two months and without being afraid of being judged, they took notes studiously and went home to their friends and family and lovers and siblings and maintained healthy relationships and seemingly flawless grades. It felt like I was the only one in a hall of hundreds of students that didn’t know how to make it through med school.

I spent an entire semester avoiding lectures and other students and hiding in the library because I thought I was crazy.

There’s something no one ever tells us about med school, and it’s this: we’re all struggling. I was having coffee with a colleague the other day, and he started to explain to me his struggles with depression, his excessive alcohol intake at the start of med school—and this is someone I’d always looked up to. Someone who, in my opinion, checked all the boxes: intelligent, kind, funny, surrounded by family and friends. And yet, he was someone struggling through med school as well. Very few med students wear their hearts on their sleeves—that’s why I keep this blog somewhat anonymous, because I’m still learning to let myself be vulnerable.

I suppose what I’m trying to say is that you’re not alone, and med school has the ability to make us our own worst enemies. But, at the same time, it doesn’t have to be the end of you. You don’t have to try and cope with these thoughts and feelings and fears alone. You, and every other medical student, every other health care student, every other person in general, are entitled to help and to have what’s going on validated. I can’t diagnose you with depression over the internet (or without a qualification of some sort), but whether you meet the criteria or not is irrelevant. You are allowed to seek help. You are allowed to talk to a professional and you are allowed to let them help you.

Please don’t struggle alone. Med school has no right to make you feel this way.

Take care of yourself and I hope you seek some help—talk to your family doctor or to your university health department.

My Life As A Med Student.

 

“A ship in harbor is safe. But that’s now what ships are built for.” William Shedd

Class schedule ready!!!

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I’ll go ahead and say it: last semester was pretty weird.  Frankly, I’m just glad it’s over.  I learned some valuable lessons, but they came with a heavy dose of hard knocks.

One bad semester won’t break me, though.  Today, a new dawn broke over my academic life.  A new semester has arrived, and I’m really excited about my new schedule.  Here’s an outline of the classes I’m taking, and what I hope to get out of them:

  • Macroscopic anatomy – Gross Anatomy or topographical anatomy: This is officially my first real medical class, no more introduction no more pre-med, this is the real deal.  I’m hoping to really understand the human body in general.  I have heard alot about this class the huge amount of material, the awful testing and of course working with corpses. Yep I am pumped and ready to dig in.Hopefully I wont be a fainter.
  • Neuroanatomy:I must say I am not as excited about this one. The human nervous system is very complicated and I suspect this class will be. Gonna have to hunker down and study. Already thinking about the all nighters I will be pulling for this one. Can’t wait!
  •  Embriology: The study of the development of an embryo from the fertilization of the ovum to the fetus stage. Got to get thru it, got to get thru it, that’s all I’m gonna say about that one. Lets just say gynecology and urology are not on my short list for specialties.
  • Microscopic Anatomy – Histology:  The study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues. Looking forward to this one too. I am amazed at what an awesome structure the human body is and microscopic anatomy is an amazing testament and offers and amazing study of that structure and how it functions. As long as I don’t have to draw anything I’ll be happy.

Well, there it is ,four classes , 40 hours a week in class. 5A.M to 7P.M Monday to Friday. And still hoping to get one class in on Saturdays.  Now that I have some real, published goals, it’s time to work, well one more week of fun and then work! 

Thank you all for making this possible for me. Look for more updates on my progress!!!