When the Lord called me into medicine, I questioned what He was doing.
I had recently given my life to serve Him and others, and medicine felt like such a far cry from that calling. I took a step of faith and enrolled in PA school without knowing where the Lord was leading me. Even throughout my schooling, I considered the lucrative specialties and looked forward to graduation with anticipation.
During that time, I felt moved to study the Gospels in more detail than I ever have before. After all, if I wanted a life that reflected Christ, where better to start than a record of His actions on earth? What I found there shocked me. Jesus Himself was a “medical missionary." He met the physical needs of the people around Him to reveal their underlying spiritual need for a Savior. In Mark 2:17, Jesus says “it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but the sinners."
This study drastically changed how I viewed medicine and specifically my role in the medical community. I saw Jesus working with and loving His own people, whether or not they loved Him back. My eyes were open to the spiritual and physical needs of the people in my very own community and my heart was instantly with them.
During my clinical rotations, the Lord put a Christian preceptor in my path that also had the same heart’s desire as me. She introduced me to His Branches, whose goal is to bring “hope, healing, and restoration” to the inner city of Rochester. I can only look back with amazement at how the Lord brought me from a place of total uncertainty to where I am now. I truly love what I do and I am so grateful that the Lord has compassion on the sick and the sinners.
At my current place of service, I provide quality primary care to the underserved populations of the city of Rochester, NY. I also plan on providing acute care and Covid testing to individuals and families during this uncertain and frightening time.
While meeting medical needs, I also aim to meet basic physical needs, providing food, insurance, clothing, or shelter to whoever may be in need of these things.
I also plan on placing a large focus on emotional and mental health. My goal is to be a safe place of confidentiality for my patients. The Bible is the source for all of the questions of life, therefore my goal will always be to point my patients to the Word.
Lastly, I plan to incorporate the love of Christ into everything I do. I aim to show this both with words and with action. I ask to pray for each patient after each visit, and I have never been turned down.
There are so many people who are searching for answers and security in all of the wrong places. My ultimate goal is to point them to the One who desires to meet their every need.
His Branches, my place of work and ministry, has adopted three words as their mission statement for service. I identify with these three points as my goals for my work there.
- Hope: Christ is the only One who offers true hope. Hope is defined as an expected end. There is so much anxiety in our society because people do not have an expected end. My goal is to share the hope of the Gospel with a hurting world that needs to know that they can have a sure and secure future.
- Healing: There are many facets of healing. My goal is to approach people with a holistic approach to health. I do not want to hyper-focus on the physical so much that I miss emotional needs. I aim to approach each patient with that view in mind. Placing a focus on mental and emotional health has always been a passion of mine, and I plan to place a large focus on those aspects in my practice.
- Restoration: Jesus has always been in the business of restoring broken relationships. My goal through my ministry will be to bring restoration to the community around me through the love of Jesus.