Inspiring Non-trad Story

[HesyRa]

Thought I would share this with all of you.

http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20110609/NEWS0107/106090347/

I don't know if any of you have read this woman's story before, but I found I found it to be very inspiring, especially for all us non-trads. She literally pulled herself out of the gutter to then gain acceptance to a very respectable program. I agree with the article in that I think she will be invaluable to those who are currently suffering with addiction. We need more people in medicine who possess this type of strong-will and ability to persevere.

I was also very impressed with the general attitude and outlook that OHSU had in this instance; it made me think of the school in a very positive light. I wish that more schools would follow this example and see the amazing obstacles that some people have overcome to be where they are now. Unfortunately, there will still be those who see men and women, such as Ms. Heinrici, as too risky. In my opinion, she knows where her vulnerability lies, whereas there will certainly be some that are completely ignorant to their vulnerability and end up failing later on in the life, potentially harming a patient in the process.

Congrats to her on her match to UCSF.

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[loochi]

Amazing story. I spent 4 years in Oregon for my undergrad and always felt something special there. Great to see both herself and her community coming together to make this happen. Go Aleka and go Oregon!

 

[doctorold]

Amazing how she managed to pull herself up like that. Glad she found the understanding she deserved.

 

[VictorAlpha]

that's amazing....anything is possible

 

[Juan Solo]

Definitely inspiring! Great story.

 

[Shjanzey]

.

 

[DPTHopeful2012]

Great story. Thanks for sharing!

 

[DrBradley]

Wow! I truly enjoyed this story. She should write a book. Talk about things that have never been publicized~

 

[toyenola]

GOD IS GREAT, WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

 

[AM4EVA]

Hey guys

I wanted to read the story but the article does not exist?

Sent from my SGH-T989 using SDN Mobile

 

[AM4EVA]

Never mind lol good old Google to the rescue...wow i really wish more med schools could just stop looking at the numbers and look at the quality of the individual...sigh...

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[TriagePreMed]

GOD IS GREAT, WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

I don't want to turn this into a religious debate, but if you knew my story, at minimum it would be comparable to hers, if not tougher. 0% of my turn around in life has been thanks to "god" and I find it offensive whenever people try to assign that to me.

 

[Rider51]

Incredibly inspiring story. Thanks for sharing. It made me feel that anything is possible.

 

[Deadlifts]

Hey guys

I wanted to read the story but the article does not exist?

Sent from my SGH-T989 using SDN Mobile

The link works fine.

I'm glad she's letting her goals come to fruition. It's encouraging.

 

[mehc012]

I don't want to turn this into a religious debate, but if you knew my story, at minimum it would be comparable to hers, if not tougher. 0% of my turn around in life has been thanks to "god" and I find it offensive whenever people try to assign that to me.

It wasn't personal, though I do share your discomfort at religion being forced into a discussion which would have been perfectly amiable and complete without that inclusion. It would be rude for me to walk around shouting "God doesn't exist" without prompting, yet somehow the opposite is accepted, no, encouraged as kind, good behavior. *shrug*

If you don't want to turn it into a religious debate, just add 'em to the "ignore" list, that's what I went with!
Also, by quoting it, now I have to look at it again when I could have just put that author on the 'ignore' list and never had to run into that sort of post again.

As for the article, good for her...I'm shocked at the attitude of the school, it was really quite kind of them to take such a risk (just from the statistics, I imagine addiction is one of the biggest "risk" red flags a school is likely to see).

 

[HesyRa]

I don't want to turn this into a religious debate, but if you knew my story, at minimum it would be comparable to hers, if not tougher.

+1 for me as well.

 

[HesyRa]

As for the article, good for her...I'm shocked at the attitude of the school, it was really quite kind of them to take such a risk (just from the statistics, I imagine addiction is one of the biggest "risk" red flags a school is likely to see).

Federal law prevents such "red flagging" of those who have suffered from addiction under the ADA, so long as they are not an 'active' addict. If a school was deny someone admittance solely based on addiction, they would have a court to face. Now, of course the school might be able to deny admittance based on a prior conviction of those individuals, but even then it might be dangerous waters for the administration to tread on.

 

[mehc012]

Federal law prevents such "red flagging" of those who have suffered from addiction under the ADA, so long as they are not an 'active' addict. If a school was deny someone admittance solely based on addiction, they would have a court to face. Now, of course the school might be able to deny admittance based on a prior conviction of those individuals, but even then it might be dangerous waters for the administration to tread on.

Right, but the competition for med school is so steep that they really don't need to deny them solely based on a history of (insert addiction, mental illness, etc...)
They just...don't have to admit them. There are probably 500 other applicants with the same stats, it'd be rather tough to prove that the deciding factor was discrimination.

I was applauding the school for ACTUALLY not factoring it in...I am well aware that they are not supposed to, I just thought it was nice to see it working out that way in reality.

 

[merkaba md]

"As for the article, good for her...I'm shocked at the attitude of the school, it was really quite kind of them to take such a risk (just from the statistics, I imagine addiction is one of the biggest "risk" red flags a school is likely to see).[/QUOTE]"


OHSU was not aware of the gamble they were taking because they didn't know the whole story. But the gamble turned out well, Dr. Heinrici continues to do work in the community as a family physician and board certified addiction specialist. ;-) Besides, as she hints at in the article, every med students without a known addiction is a potential doctor with an addiction.