{"id":6933,"date":"2016-06-01T13:25:54","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T17:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/?p=6933"},"modified":"2016-06-23T09:56:43","modified_gmt":"2016-06-23T13:56:43","slug":"student-spotlight-jessica-charles-navigating-the-cultural-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geiselmed.dartmouth.edu\/news\/2016\/student-spotlight-jessica-charles-navigating-the-cultural-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Spotlight – Jessica Charles: Navigating the Cultural Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

First-year Geisel School of Medicine student Jessica Charles\u2019 enthusiasm for exploring the world is rooted in her heritage. \u201cBecause of my background, I am very interested in exploring cultural diversity through different media,\u201d she says. \u201cMy father is from Trinidad, which is extremely diverse with a population descended from indigenous tribes, including Arawak and Carib, African slavery, Indian indentured servitude, and Chinese immigrants all blended together.\u201d Charles\u2019 maternal grandparents, from the Bahamas and Barbados, are equally diverse with a blending of indigenous peoples, Brits, Scots, and Africans.<\/p>\n

Navigating the world when you are mixed in this way can be challenging, she notes. \u201cWhen I was young I was confused, and I decided I was white,\u201d she says. One day after school, Charles announced her decision to her aunt, a professor and child psychologist who had a strong influence on her life. \u201cWhen I said I was white she started laughing and said, \u2018No, sweetheart, you are a person of color,\u2019\u201d Charles recalls. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t need anything more than that\u2014I\u2019m a person of color. A colorful person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charles\u2019 interests are as colorful as her heritage\u2014dance, food, and learning new languages are among her passions. Self-described as somewhat intense, she is \u201csomeone who is always moving, always doing something.\u201d As a music minor, she delved into global cultures through music, which aligned with her interest in global health, and her paternal grandmother\u2019s practice of Chinese herbal medicine spurred Charles to travel to China to study traditional Chinese medicine.<\/p>\n

\"Jessica
Jessica Charles tries something new while studying in China.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fluent in Spanish, she learned Mandarin while working in Boston\u2019s Chinatown neighborhood. \u201cAt that time,\u201d she says, \u201cI wanted to learn a language different from my own and because Mandarin, English, and Spanish are the three most common languages spoken in the world and I wanted to be able to speak all three in order to communicate with as many people as possible worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though her appetite for varied experiences was broad, a chaotic New England childhood drove her to seek solace in her studies, eschewing the latest dance craze and other distractions that occupied her cousins. Because of her studiousness, she was able to encourage her Caribbean relatives to seek medical treatment by elucidating some of the general physiological mechanisms of disease and responses to treatment\u2014even though they spoke English, the cultural divide was wide and they were somewhat distrustful of physicians in general. \u201cThey were more willing to trust what someone they knew did to treat their illness rather than see a physician,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Through this experience she developed an expertise in cross-cultural communication, and by the time she was 14 years old she was sure of two things: she wanted to be a doctor and she wanted to work predominantly with women. She intended to become an advocate for women like her grandmother, who had 16 consecutive pregnancies\u2014the last two against medical advice.<\/p>\n

Charles suspected giving birth to 16 children might not have been her grandmother\u2019s choice\u2014if she had a choice. Deep cultural differences, including a lack of access to reliable information and options, along with the power dynamic within her marriage, ruled out access to contraception and abortion. Charles\u2019 suspicions were later confirmed and it made an indelible impression on her.<\/p>\n

Though she speaks warmly of her grandmother, she says, \u201cFor me, it is very important to make sure that women are not being coerced. That there isn\u2019t any misunderstanding regarding options or treatment\u2014I want to make sure the women I\u2019m treating understand they do not have to live a life that someone else has decided for them.\u201d She also thinks it\u2019s essential to listen carefully to patients who may not be forthcoming about what may or may not be affecting their decisions in order to figure out what drives them.<\/p>\n

As an emergency medical technician (EMT) in Jamaica Plain, MA, one of Boston\u2019s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods, Charles heard a plethora of stories about life-altering decisions. Citing cases ranging from a visibly upset veteran, who had no choice in the matter, being transported to a detox facility that didn\u2019t use narcotics to take the edge off withdrawal\u2014\u201che looked at me and said he\u2019d begged his doctor not to send him there\u201d; a 400-pound drug addict who overdosed, and when revived began crying that he didn\u2019t want to die; a light-sensitive, easily startled meth addict going through withdrawal; and the wife of an unresponsive patient who did not want to obey her husband\u2019s advance directive.<\/p>\n

\"Add
A fan of world music, Jessica learned to play the tambura\u2014a four-stringed, fretless instrument that provides the harmonic base in Indian music.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was an eye-opening experience for Charles. \u201cWhile riding in the truck you learn a lot about yourself, and about people and their experiences\u2014they tell you their frustrations and everything what went wrong right up to their current situation,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt is an important experience to have if you want to become a doctor because when you are in the ambulance you are the doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n

She and her partner EMT, both diminutive, worked in Boston during the city\u2019s record snowfall. She recounts the difficulties of moving people from their homes into the ambulance on snow-covered ice and through deep snow among the job\u2019s challenges and says, \u201cYou are always facing mortality\u2014theirs and your own.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get called to people\u2019s homes, you don\u2019t know what you are getting into and there\u2019s nothing you can do about it because you have to get the patient into the ambulance no matter what.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although she honed her skills in a gritty urban neighborhood, Charles is interested in helping those in rural environments, whether globally or in the U.S. She is here at Geisel in part because of its strong commitment to rural health, and she actively participates in the Migrant Health Project as a dental services coordinator. The Migrant Health Project provides free mobile medical care, and dental care, to migrant workers in New Hampshire and Vermont. This summer, she plans on working with young Native American girls in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Charles is a firm believer in the value of broad cross-cultural experiences. \u201cYou may not speak the same language, but there are many ways to connect with people,\u201d she says. \u201cWhen people see a doctor they are bringing with them everything that has happened in their life, a compilation of their stories\u2014it\u2019s important to meet them where they are rather than trying to get them to come to you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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