I feel that I have begun to really join a new community. I currently reside in a smaller town and enjoy getting to know everyone, attending city council meetings, and partaking in all of the events. I got to partake in the Mazepa day’ festivities and watch my first tractor pull. Being here has pulled me out of my comfort zone in ways that I was not expecting, the same way in which I was pulled out of my comfort zone in London. I have been able to really build relationships with the people around me. It has solidified for me the idea that community can be both fluid and nested. I now know what all the different siren sounds mean for the community, some of which let you know when it’s noon and 6pm, and others to warn you of tornados and to call in the volunteer firefighters during an emergency. Growing up in a large city and coming from London, I was anxious about how I would be treated and had to remove all and any stereotypes I had in my mind to connect with where I was staying. The moment I did that, I could experience the full beauty of where I was.
Within the community I have built at Mayo Clinic, I have learned that taking your time to get to know the community that the people you may help care for is vital. Clinicians have to find a way to create a bridge between themselves and the patient they are working with to provide the best care possible that works for each individual. They do this best by learning about the community in which each individual is coming from and working to find common ground.
It is important to step down from one’s own positionality, especially as a college student engaged in research, to remember the importance of seeing communities and the people you meet within them not as statistics or something other but as people with who you share a multitude of things with and whom you can learn and grow from.
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