Zoe Becker '12 is spending the summer investigating ideas that can help practitioners at the Jorge Prieto Family Health Center better serve their patients.
Working at the Dr. Jorge Prieto Family Health Center in Chicago is providing Zoe Becker '12 with important experience for her future in medicine. The Center is a free clinic, with patients predominantly from the Mexican immigrant community in the city. Becker is working with both the doctors and patients of the clinic this summer, investigating and researching ways the facility might better serve the patients.
Among the tasks she has been assigned is to do community outreach for the clinic and its prenatal services. "This has involved visiting a number of community organizations and meeting with the appropriate representatives at each to find out about the services they offer for pregnant women and telling them about what [the Family Health Center] offers," Becker says.
Becker also investigated exercise centers and gyms in the area to which the Family Health Center can refer their patients. "I have negotiated a contract between the clinic and the neighborhood Curves that allows for our patients to pay a significantly reduced fee," Becker says.
She is also looking at ways to distribute medical information to the general public at all literacy levels.
"I am currently researching health literacy and prenatal educational materials to put together multiple educational packets for pregnant women in the clinic that will be up-to-date, concise and easy to read," says Becker.
She is also training as a patient counselor, helping out with the clinic's bi-monthly domestic violence support group by attending meetings and events and shadowing many of the doctors and specialists around at the clinic and the nearby hospital.
"This experience will provide me with invaluable career exposure and make me much more knowledgeable about the issues involved in health care in today's society," Becker says.
