A Day in the Life

It’s hard for teens to talk to their parents about a lot of things — especially reproductive health. But sometimes they need someone to talk to that they can trust. I remember what that was like. And it’s why I wanted to be that trusted person for teens in my community.

Community service has always been an important part of my life. During college, I got an internship at a clinic serving Asian-American teens. And as soon as a position opened for a community health advocate, I was offered a job right away.

Being a community health advocate is like being a health educator. I spend a lot of one-on-one time with patients. I counsel them on reproductive health, like how to have healthy relationships and prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.

I work to build strong relationships with my patients. I had a patient who was pregnant, and I helped by calling her to answer her questions and make sure she went to her doctor appointments. She understands that taking care of herself is part of being a mom, and I’m happy I helped her learn how to do that.

But not every patient is a success story. I work with a lot of high-risk patients, like teens who are in abusive relationships or having unsafe sex. Sometimes I ask myself, am I doing something wrong? But part of my job is accepting that I can’t help everyone. My colleagues and I try to learn from those experiences so we can try something different next time.

It’s important to be nonjudgmental, caring and a good listener if you want to be a health educator. Try volunteering at a clinic or a hospital to see if you like working with patients.

As a health educator, you never know what to expect each day, except that you’ll learn something new from the patients you serve. And at the end of the day, it feels really good to be that trusted person in someone’s life.