New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center

My fellowship at the Heads Up! Pediatric Literacy program takes me to nine of the program’s 11 clinic sites. In my next few posts, I’ll try to describe what it’s like to visit each one. Activities at each site are different, and that makes things interesting!

New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center: In 1992, the Heads Up! Program was founded here, and originally ran out of this hospital only. My office is here, so I order books and pay invoices for the entire program from this site. I usually spend just a few hours a day on these tasks, and am in Cornell’s clinic or at other program sites at other times.

There are two pediatric outpatient clinics in my building at Cornell. One is on the 3^rd floor, where my office is, and the other—the Medicaid clinic—is on the 5^th. Patients with private insurance are typically seen on the 3^rd floor, and those with government-issued insurance are typically found in the 5^th floor waiting room. (At least, this is how I think it works. The pediatric specialties also seem to run out of the 3^rd floor clinic.) The book program runs on the 5^th floor, but not the 3^rd.

It should not surprise me that the clinics look different, but it does. Recently renovated, the 3^rd floor boasts a colorful floor, fresh paint, and inviting murals. The waiting room is spacious, comfortable, and well stocked with magazines. The Medicaid clinic appears to see a larger patient volume and has a playroom, which the children love. But it also has some walls with chipped or dirty paint, and far fewer colorful, inviting features. At busy times, there also never seems to be quite enough seating for waiting patients and family members.

I chose this fellowship because I am troubled by health care disparities, and want to spend my life attempting to alleviate them. Excellent care—the most important thing—is given in both clinics, but I can’t help but wondering when the 5^th floor’s last paint job was. I know about reimbursement issues, but I can’t help but wish the two clinics could be equally beautiful, and feel somewhat stung that they are not.

Of all the clinic sites, my activities at Cornell are the most diverse. In addition to my role as the book program coordinator, I am helping with several clinical research studies, and attend grand rounds or another medical lecture once or twice a week. On Mondays, I also shadow a physician for a few hours. The Monday shadowing is in the “preemie follow-up clinic,” where the development of premature infants (now older and living at home) is tracked until the medical team feels confident that the child is developing appropriately, and is receiving services, if any are needed.