During each visit, I was able to learn about certain pathologies as well as how different components play a role into that pathology. I observed the lack of education during multiple occasions. An example of this is when I was at the rural health clinic and a pregnant woman came in for a check-up, but she didn't know how pregnant she was. During the community visits, I was able to visit inside the houses of the local community members. Here, most of the houses had thatch roofs with hardened mud floors. There are usually two rooms, one for sleeping and one for cooking, and the kitchens do not have ventilation for the open fires. When I observed in the Gynecology Outpatient Department, I saw a patient where her cervix was exposed outside of her body. The doctor explained that most women cook sitting on the ground making it easy to receive an infection. I learned during a lecture series that 80% of people live in rural areas of India and most people work as farmers. Here, they are crouching in the rice and wheat fields. Most of the patients that came into the Orthopedics Outpatient Department complained of knee, neck and back pain, which directly links to their working conditions. When I observed at the Ophthalmology Outpatient Department, there were many patients that had Cataracts and Pterygium. This is a direct correlation of the environmental conditions they are exposed to. All of these components have allowed me to see the social interactions between people and their mindset related to health. The observations are essential in understanding that every component plays an important role in a patient's health. When a patient walks into the doctor's office, it is important to be aware of all of these components: their education, living arrangement, environmental exposures etc. This will give a deeper insight into the patient's diagnosis and will allow me as a public health professional to closely connect with the individual/community and successfully promote health.

Prior to my arrival, I was determined to choose public health or medicine. However, the longer I am here the more I realize that they are interwoven with one another. I like to think of public health and medicine as a Chinese finger trap. One finger is public health, and the other finger is medicine. The harder the fingers pull away from one another, the tighter the sleeve becomes. It is nearly impossible to escape the fingers, until they are willing to work together. The Center for Social Medicine enhanced my passion for public health and medicine.