Katrina Sondern is an undergraduate student at Trinity University who wants to pursue a career in medicine in the army.
Katrina is drawn to healthcare because she wants the opportunity to give back to her community while making an impact. Growing up, she watched family members experience rough interactions in the healthcare industry and saw how the workers did not understand their patients. She wants to make an impact on how patient-provider interactions can improve in healthcare.
Katrina’s cousin is a certified nurse and an important role model for Katrina in the medical field. Katrina has always been very interested in the sciences, especially biology and physiology. When Katrina was starting her freshman year of high school, her cousin was just starting nursing school. Throughout high school, Katrina heard stories of her cousin’s experiences in medicine and learned about the many different opportunities available in healthcare. Her cousin was the first person to show her what healthcare looked like and how what is learned in school is used in real life: techniques, surgeries, and problem-solving skills. However, her cousin is not the only family member who inspires her to study medicine.
Katrina’s grandfather lives in a rural community in Texas. When she visits him, she sees how few clinics and hospitals there are in the area and the impacts on the community. There is a large gap between healthcare in rural and urban areas. Families in rural areas have to drive hours to the nearest hospital. Some rural community members never have appointments and do not have a primary care physician. Primary care physicians and yearly physicals are important for everyone, no matter their health. Primary doctors can collaborate with the patient to help them stay healthy (i.e. by suggesting healthier food and exercise), diagnose conditions, and find treatments that work for them.
Many people in rural areas do not have the opportunities to understand their health. Some do not believe in healthcare, which can prove very detrimental to their well-being if something happens to their health. Some people live in their bodies, but do not understand the vitality of their relationship with them. Usually, patients are the first to find something off in their body and report it to their doctors. Without this first line of defense, many diseases go untreated for lengths of time and therefore the doctor can do little when the patient is finally brought in. Low-cost healthcare in rural communities can help patients understand their own bodies and identify when something is wrong, which can save lives.
A lesser well-known area of the medical field that Katrina is interested in is medicine in the army. Katrina goes to school in San Antonio, Texas, which is a military city. Because of this, she has learned about the many opportunities the military has to offer; serving does not mean you have to go to war. Katrina has multiple family members who joined the army at some point in their lives, including her grandfather. As a child, she knew they joined the army, but now she is learning about why they joined and how the army has shaped who they are. Katrina sees the army as a way to reach rural communities and provide much-needed medical care.
In college, Katrina has joined multiple student organizations connecting to the military and medicine. This year, she joined a club that works with the army in recruiting students to be physicians and another that supports undergraduate students going into the medical field.
Katrina is a rising sophomore at Trinity University, in San Antonio, Texas. She is interested in medicine and giving back to her community. Her hobbies include hiking, biking, and playing sports!
