Need clinical work experience in San Bernardino, winter break

November 19, 2014 7:52 AM

My connection for clinical work/experience during winter break has suddenly dropped me. I now have a 2k+ ticket to San Bernardino, California and am anxious and scared as to how I should proceed. Help!

I'm an American currently attending medical school in Warsaw, Poland and have a plane ticket to San Bernardino, CA, USA. I'm very reluctant to give it up for the following reasons (but if necessary I will): A) The plane ticket is only half refundable, B) I have an enormous passion for working with underserved communities and the particular community in San Bernardino is one I'm very interested in.

Through an unreliable friend I had arranged to find work in this city. He had arranged lodging, transportation, and clinical as well as miscellaneous volunteer work for me over the break. Let's call him John. John dipped out approximately 30 hours ago leaving me completely hanging. His roommate was also supposed to help me out as well. Let's call the roommate Boris. Boris is a resident that is working at hospitals in San Bernardino, which ones I don't know, and basically he was my foot into the door to be able to see patients and have unpaid, hands-on experience. Boris and I are not friends on Facebook, though I do have his phone number and we are generally friendly. Though now potentially very unfriendly if he's automatically going to side with his roommate. If I were to approach Boris... well, with what words and when? Ideas for a script would be much appreciated.

My plane ticket is set for me to arrive in San Bernardino on Dec 20th and leave Jan 2nd. I'm totally unfamiliar with the city and have no idea how safe it would be for me (young, female, small stature, API) to work and stay there alone. It's almost a month until I have to fly, so my situation is time sensitive to the point of giving me extremely awful anxiety on top of already being in medical school.

How should I decide on the following, I guess: should I go? Cold call clinics in the city and see if they'll accept me? Then I'll have to consider transportation and lodging. It's possible for me to be able to rent a car if necessary, and I may be able to stay in Azusa with family if it's not too inconvenient traffic-wise, but of course I have no idea what traffic is like nor what the hours will be.

Should I not go? Write off the ticket as an unfortunate expense and try to find clinical work here in Warsaw?

Or should I really try to make it happen? I really want to know what its like to work with underserved communities in the US. I have heard that medical students get a lot of clinical experience working in this area, so I feel this could be really beneficial for me and my future CV. However, I feel pretty fucked right now.

posted by pink tape red light purple hammer to Education (7 answers total)

What kind of clinical experience--this could make a huge difference if it is in a field that generally requires a license/certification/etc and if there needs to be a pre-authorization to work directly with patients. Also, the time in the States seems extremely short for any real work experience in a clinical setting--particularly given that it is over the holidays.
posted by rmhsinc at 8:26 AM on November 19, 2014

any type of volunteering in clinics. Usually free clinics in the SB area will offer the most hands on experience for medical students. I think it would be more beneficial over the holidays, well supposedly John told me that over the holidays because it is the Holidays, there is just more activity and charity overall.
posted by pink tape red light purple hammer at 8:29 AM on November 19, 2014

Loma Linda University and Hospital is right by San Bernardino, you might try contacting them for ideas. We have a ton of medical facilities in this area because they are out here, and they probably have connections.

Azusa is maybe 45 minutes west but you'd be going the opposite direction of traffic. If you want to stay closer look for a hotel in Redlands, San Bernardino has a lot of bad neighborhoods.
posted by InfidelZombie at 8:39 AM on November 19, 2014

I'm not entirely clear on why you think that Boris would "side with" John, because I'm not sure what there is for him to side with John against you about. You only say that John "dropped out", but that sounds more like John just flaked, rather than suddenly getting pissed at you and saying you suck or anything.

Can you reach out to Boris and say that "hey, so...John apparently isn't able to confirm this for me, which is cool, but I was hoping you could confirm the placement for me instead, since you're still at [Hospital X]? Just clarifying whether I can still come over." You're not saying that John sucks, you're giving him the benefit of the doubt that there are probably perfectly valid reasons for him flaking out (Okay, I know there probably aren't, but whatever), you're just asserting that you need to just finalize details and he is placed to help you do that because you're now in a jam.

and since you're not saying John sucks, I don't really see why there would be anything for Boris to "side with John" about in that. Give it a shot.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:39 AM on November 19, 2014

If this is a legitimate thing people do, start making phone calls.

You may have to figure out room and transportation last-minute after you arrange a place to work. SB can be gritty, but most people survive living there so you'll probably be fine for a couple of weeks.

It wouldn't hurt to check around Azusa/San Gabriel Valley and even Pasadena just in case you stumble upon a good opportunity that would allow you to stay with family. At this point, even if SB has some ultra-specific demographic you want to work with, you may have to compromise for a very similar but different demographic if that's the opportunity available to you.

The upside is that Los Angeles is a very, very big place and you can likely find *something* somewhere. You may spend a lot of time in transit, but you'll get the work experience you're looking for.

Depending on how late you can cancel your flight, maybe you need to work both options - both here and in Warsaw and decide in a week or two which one is going to be more feasible.
posted by Lyn Never at 8:53 AM on November 19, 2014

As far as housing, UC Riverside's winter break is from the 22nd to the 2nd, so you could probably find a short-term sublet on Craigslist. It's about 12 miles from the center of San Bernadino.
posted by wnissen at 11:22 AM on November 19, 2014

Hey guys I just wanted to thank you for all the help/advice you've given me. I now feel like this is a totally feasible thing to do/solvable problem which helps so much with my stress. I just wanted to express how grateful I am for such a helpful community. I think I will go forward with going to San Bernardino, I will consider hospitals here in Warsaw as well. It's easier to get placement but since I am not fluent in Polish, and plan on returning to an anglophone country (likely the US) after my schooling, it is probably best to continue my trip.

Although I think the most difficult thing about this is being alone in a city I don't know very well, and that I won't be with my immediate family and friends for Christmas/New years/birthday. Ah well. So is the life of a medical student, yeah?

Also for the record, John totally thinks that I suck nuts. Which is why he no longer wishes to work with me. C'est la vie! I'll keep trying to contact Boris, but the last couple of days I have received no such response for him. I also tried contacting John, nothing back either. I think John may skip out of town during the time. He really hates me/wants nothing to do with me. So I think as of now, I'm without their help

Thanks again!
posted by pink tape red light purple hammer at 1:19 PM on November 20, 2014