What was your involvement in the MSC?

I was part of the MSC CAMAC - A Latinx Programming Committe and member of the MSC SCOLA - Student Conference on Latinx Affairs executive team.

What does a day in your life look like currently?

My everyday life and routine has changed dramatically over the last two months. I work as a nurse at an urgent care and my days start early around 7 a.m.. It’s important for me to allocate time to get ready, eat breakfast, get a good morning stretch and mentally prepare for another 12 hour shift. Music is an essential component to lift my spirits and overall mood for the day. Once I’m at work, I complete my morning duties, prepare my PPE for the day and briefly connect and catch up with my co-workers. It’s always important to connect and allow for normalcy to still linger among my coworker family and work environment. We share a good story, relay some good news, and I always try to amp up the funny meter by saying something funny and witty to get them to smile. I sometimes get the “It’s too early Rosa” as they try to hide their smiles from me. If I get one of my co-workers to smile, then that is a win for the day. From there its go time, rain or shine. With COVID invading our communities around the world, many are scared and concerned with the possibility of contracting the virus. Our facility is one of the few clinics to offer both the PCR COVID test and also the antigen COVID test. With that said first half of my day is seeing 15 patients every hour on the hour for antigen testing. The skill of multitasking is an absolute must, as our normal urgent care services are still being provided. We are also performing the PCR COVID test which can take some time to complete as infection control is reinforced. Balancing the elements of good ol’ Texas humidity and heat only add a pzazz to the already exhausting day. I leave my shift around 8:30 p.m., sometimes closer to 9 p.m. I head home to then sashay out my scrubs, remove and wipe everything all outside my home. All clothes are immediately washed and I proceed to scrub clean into the shower. I try to unwind and then off to bed early and repeat all over again the next day.

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

Reminiscing on past events, presentations and programs during my time with MSC SCOLA, I realize that the ones that instilled the most growth where the ones that strayed from the original plan. These detours allowed us as a team to rethink, regroup and reproach the end goal with a different perspective. When things don’t go as planned, it shines light on areas that required improvement and those are experiences I still draw on today. My time at Texas A&M allowed me to walk away with the ability to acknowledge when something is and isn’t working and be willing to accept that and adjust course.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

If I could, I would work on strengthening my decisiveness most. More and more, we are being asked to make decisions with less and less time for consideration and consultation. I've never been a particularly decisive person so this has challenged me, especially with the acuity of cases that keep presenting to our inpatient wards.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Integrity is the core value that best represents my work on the frontline. I firmly believe that if you interlace integrity in everything you do, then the quality of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, service and diversity will outlast any circumstance. We did not choose the circumstances we are currently in nor where we prepared for how it would affect us all. One thing that is for sure is that we still have control of how we can act and react to the given circumstance. We have the choice to be compassionate, caring, prudent but above all honest and unvarying moral. Doing the right thing in a time where there is much left to the unknown, we must never allow for our moral compass to waver.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

There are so many favorite memories but coming together as a committee was always fun! We always tried to have food and snacks at our meetings. I remember one time we all brought pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread) and had hot chocolate as we hand painted our MSC CAMAC shirts for an event. Always laughing at every meeting and we kept the fun in everything we did as a team.

What else would you like to share about the MSC?

Thank you for the opportunity to share my personal experience and for all the other frontline workers. Thanks and Gig'Em!

What was your involvement in the MSC?

Chief Operating Officer 2004-2005, EVP Leadership Development and Service 2003-2004, MSC ALOT Group Leader 2002-2003, MSC ALOT member 2001-2002

What does a day in your life look like currently?

As the sole gastroenterologist at Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune, I'm charged with leading the GI department and making sure that we are always available to handle any GI emergency for our region. I'm proud that we've been able to do this with fewer personnel and more limited resources. We have had to dramatically change our clinical practice model due to the social distancing requirements for COVID-19. We've gone to a nearly 100% telemedicine model for outpatient visits, trying to maintain contact with our patients without exposing them to the risks of the coronavirus. It has been especially challenging since a lot of our hospital staff are deployed to other parts of the country helping the relief effort in some of the coronavirus "hot spots."

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

Through my MSC experiences, I learned that the best plans don't always win. Often, the plans that succeed are those that are able to adapt to a rapidly changing situation. While it's important to plan strategically, it's equally important to be able to change that plan in a moment's notice if the situation changes. It's also critically important to create a team culture that is adaptable and cohesive. If you wait until a crisis arises to work on your team culture, you waited too long. My team has been able to adapt and overcome because we've spent a long time training together, learning together, and becoming a more cohesive unit. It requires leadership to achieve that, and that starts long before any crisis arises.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

I would focus on delegating. That was one of the hardest things for me to learn. I tend to want to take on all challenges myself and not pawn work off on others. What I've come to learn in the last 15 years is that I'm not always the best suited to handle a particular task, so by not delegating the task I may be limiting the success of the team. Also, failure to delegate prevents the personal growth and development of my team members. Being able to delegate to trusted team members in the current situation is invaluable.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Each of the core values are important. I can't think how I would even choose one. Imagine a wheel with seven spokes representing each of the seven core values. If one was missing, you'd have a misshapen, non-functional wheel. You can't function without all of them. You can't even be weak in one of them. You have to have them all.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

During my junior year, I was part of the core team tasked with designing a new organizational structure for the MSC Council. It was an amazing experience to be a part of constructing a strategic vision for such a large and complex organization. That structure lasted for 10 more years, which is quite a legacy.

What else would you like to share about the MSC?

If anyone is serious about being a leader in their future industry, get involved and stay involved in the MSC! My time there was formative in a way that I couldn't get any other way. I'm a great physician by virtue of my medical training, but all of my business leadership skills came from my time in the MSC. Thank you to the MSC staff and students that spent so much of their time and energy training me to be a leader. I'll never forget it!

What was your involvement in the MSC?

MSC President, MSC FISH Chair/AD/freshman

What does a day in your life look like currently?

I'm still working in the hospital every day. I get there at roughly 5:30 a.m., and start checking in on the patients that stayed overnight. Throughout the day I take care of those people and try to get them home, and I also see all the new emergency consults from the ER. We have been severely limited with the operations we are allowed to do (only emergencies and cancer), but I'm still lucky enough to be in the operating room usually once or twice a day. We wrap up the day around 6 p.m., and I get to go home to my wife and little girl. I'm on call once or twice a week, which means when emergencies come in overnight, I am the one who goes in and sees them and/or operates on them.

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

Without question, my roles in the MSC provided me with the training, experience, and skills I needed to be a successful medical student, a successful surgeon/physician, a successful community leader, and the leader of my household. I received too many skills to list, but if I had to choose just a few to highlight, I'd say the most important are communication, critical thinking, and giving/receiving feedback. When you're taking care of patients, clear and constant communication is of the utmost importance in order to ensure the patient gets the care they need and to prevent mistakes from happening. I work with many different providers every day (nurses, medical assistants, anesthesiologists, other surgeons, insurance companies, etc.), and I speak with patients and their families; learning how to speak to each party in the appropriate manner and to communicate the pertinent and essential points is critical to ensure we provide good care. Critical thinking is another important skill I learned through the MSC.

Being a surgeon and a physician who sees patients in the emergency room means I constantly encounter problems that are not "by the book"; there's often not an obvious answer for how to fix certain problems. Thinking critically is absolutely necessary to help find inventive ways to attack those novel problems. Especially during this time, when resources are limited, I have to find a way to continue treating patients appropriately even when I'm faced with limited or challenging circumstances.

Finally, giving and receiving feedback (a.k.a. "constructive criticism") is a part of my daily life. We can't afford to make many mistakes when the health of another person relies on our abilities and decision-making, so feedback is an absolute necessity in a medical team. During this COVID crisis, it is essential that the physicians, the administrators, the nurses, and everyone involved with caring for patients is constantly improving the processes we have to keep patients and providers safe. We constantly discuss the strong and weak policies we have, the challenges we face, and the ways to improve upon our prior efforts.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

I think I'd focus most on strengthening patience and attention-to-detail. Given the current crisis, we are constantly facing new challenges each and every day, and they often make our jobs harder and/or more dangerous. Patience is key when learning how to make thoughtful and patient-centered decisions in a time of crisis. Attention-to-detail is also absolutely something that impacts my daily life. If you slip up even the slightest (in the operating room, when putting on your masks/gown/gloves, when ordering medications), you can jeopardize the health and well-being of not only the patient and their families but also yourself and the providers around you.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Service seems the most appropriate for what I currently do. Serving patients and caring for the sick is part of the job, and even when it may be dangerous or inconvenient to perform that job, it is my duty to see that it is done. Being in the service of others, especially when they need it most, is more rewarding than any payment or award or accolade.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

Wow, it's hard to pick just one memory! I spent many late nights up in the SPO (both at Koldus and the new MSC) with my MSC FISH leadership team and later with my MSC President executive team. Although it was often stressful, I'd have to say I really loved the time I spent with my fellow assistant directors in MSC FISH planning the first Kyle Field Day. We stayed up very late, were very stressed, and ate a lot of pizza, but it was so fun to, "run through the fire," with my friends and to see our efforts be rewarded with a wonderful project.

What else would you like to share about the MSC?

These are trying times, but the people that will get us through them are the ones who reflect the qualities that the MSC strives to teach. Those with a servant heart, those with critical thinking skills, those who are leaders, those who never back down from a challenge...they are the ones who will guide us through this time. The MSC has prepared thousands of servants for this time, and I know they are serving as a guiding light during this difficult time.

What was your involvement in the MSC?

MSC Jordan Institute, MSC OPAS, and Century Singers

What does a day in your life look like currently?

I am seeing patients admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and overseeing the inpatient services at our five hospitals from a leadership standpoint within the Wake Forest Baptist Health System.

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

In retrospect, I realized that my education at the MSC was as important or more important than what I learned in the traditional classroom setting. The different organization within the MSC taught be how to follow, how to lead, how to be a team player, how to organize projects/programs, and how to get to yes.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

If I were to return back to my time at the MSC, I would focus on how to communicate effectively in small and large settings as a public speaker. In addition, I would seek out mentor and learn how manage and lead people.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Leadership. I spend most of my time when I am not seeing patients leading groups. Managing and leading are important skills especially during the times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Integrity. One of my mentors taught me that integrity is "doing the right thing at the right time especially when no one is watching." There will be times when doing the right thing will be costly.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

Singing in the Century Singers

What was your involvement in the MSC?

I spent all four of my years at Texas A&M with MSC Fish. I joined MSC Fish as an incoming freshman, participated as a Big Sib for two years, and then served as the Service Committee Executive Director and leader of the Big Sib program.

What does a day in your life look like currently?

A day in my life has changed dramatically just in the last two months. When I get ready for my shift, infection control is laced in every decision: scrubs that are antimicrobial and water-resistant; my face is free of foundation to keep my PPE clean; my hair is pulled back and tucked into a scrub cap; my wrist is free of the watch I’ve worn to the hospital for 7 years; and my phone is in a Ziploc bag where it will remain for the next 14 hours. Then I leave through the garage to get my nursing shoes and hospital badge. I definitely don’t bring them into my home anymore.

I don’t listen to music or podcasts on my drive anymore, as my commute is now the time where I steel myself. Sometimes, it’s quiet and that is welcome, because the rest of my night shift will not be. Sometimes, it’s a phone call to my parents, because the version of me that they see is tougher than what I feel. Either way, it’s 30 minutes before I’m back in the fray.

When I get to the unit, I get my assignment which is now twice the patient-load that it used to be. I get report and learn that all 4 patients are “real” ICU patients (ex: on ventilators, have multiple titratable drips, are manually proned, or seem unstable enough to require intubation before too long).

I introduce myself to whichever Clinic/PACU/MedSurg/OR/PEDI/L&D nurse has been floated to the ICU (God Bless Them) and assigned to me for the duration of my shift. I outline how they can help me get through the next 12 hours. This is a different nurse every day, so it’s also a different conversation every day, depending on each nurse’s skillset. I find a fully-charged battery for my PAPR Hood, which I will wear for most of the shift, and we don the rest of our PPE like our lives depend on it. And they do.

We dig into our work. The patients who are alert appreciate I don’t wear a surgical mask under my PAPR Hood, because they can see my smile. The first time I wore a PAPR Hood without a surgical mask into a patient’s room, it was an accident. My patient looked shocked when he saw me. Then he smiled and I could see his eyes fill. It occurred to me he hadn’t seen a face or a smile in weeks. I marvel at the little things we used to take for granted. I stayed and talked to him longer than I normally would, because I missed human interaction as much as he did. He asked if I have had COVID-19… I said, “Not yet.” He asked if I was scared of getting it… I said, “The only thing I’m scared of, is contracting the virus and then having to be your roommate because we are all out of space at this hospital.” He laughed, and it felt good to both of us. Humor was the thing that kept me from telling him about my history of pneumonia, and that I was scared. Now, I intentionally leave the surgical mask off, since it offers no additional safety to me. My patients can see my face and we connect better when we can see each other’s faces.

The patients who are on ventilators are difficult to sedate, difficult to stabilize, and difficult to wean. We do the best we can, thinking inside and outside the box. As a care team, we are navigating this new terrain without a map. When we are not with our patients, we talk about what new information we have read about COVID-19, which therapies seem to yield positive results, and what are the best practices (of today, anyways). We are learning new things all the time, getting better at our jobs and hope patient outcomes will improve every day.

I check in with the patient’s family to give them detailed updates, because it’s now too dangerous for them to visit the hospital. These phone calls take hours, so they are usually over speakerphone while I am taking care of their family member in their room. For the first time in my 7 years of nursing, families seem to understand how difficult this job is for us, and they are surprisingly calm and patient on the phone. If someone told me I couldn’t visit my dad in the hospital, I would want to tear down the walls. So I thank them for their patience, they thank me for my care, and I work to make sure their family member does not feel so alone.

By the end of the shift, I am tired, my body aches, and I struggle to find my words in report. The oncoming nurse is always understanding because we have never been pushed like this. I have done everything I can do for my patients and I pass the responsibility into hands that I trust. I clean my equipment. I thank my team. Then I go home to unwind, see the dogs, and get some sleep. I will be back again tomorrow.

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

I look back on events, projects, and programs I was involved in planning for MSC Fish, and the ones that offered me the most growth were the ones that didn't go well. They shine a light on areas that required improvement and those are experiences I still draw on today. I walked away from my time at Texas A&M with an increased ability to recognize when something is/isn't working and a willingness to adjust my plans accordingly.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

If I could go back to my time in the MSC, I would spend more time strengthening my ability to listen to my peers and my willingness to receive feedback.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Leadership is the core value that best represents my work on the frontline. I chose to be an ICU Nurse, but I did not get to choose the circumstances we are in. We all watched this virus make its’ way around the globe, but before it reached my city, I was not prepared for how it would affect my time with my family, the economy I live and work within, or my own health and well-being. No one would choose this version of the world we live in, and yet here we are. The only thing that I still have control over, is who I’m going to be in these circumstances. I don’t always know what the 10 steps in front of me should be, but I always know what the next right/intelligent/precise/lovely/compassionate/prudent (whatever you want to call it) thing to do is. Doing that, keeps you from being overwhelmed in a situation you can’t control. This version of leadership is the most important thing I can contribute right now. Coworkers notice and they can easily adopt it in their practice, and this is how we gain momentum.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

Anytime I had to wear a costume was always a fun night! My absolute favorite memory is running around campus in a safari truck made out of cardboard with my Service Assistant Directors dressed as animals.

What was your involvement in the MSC?

EVP Diversity 2017-2018, Champe Fitzhugh Student Leader, MSC FISH Chair and staff

What does a day in your life look like currently?

I work as a nurse in high-risk Labor and Delivery. I wake up around 5:30 a.m. to get to the hospital. When I get there, I'm given my PPE for the day and get my temperature checked at the door. I spend the day taking care of moms who are typically already really sick, but are now having to deliver their babies without their families for prevention of spread. Some are already infected with the virus. Most days I barely sit down for 13 hours. On a busy day, I'll deliver 3 babies by the end of my shift! I leave my shift around 7:30 p.m. and go home to go to sleep to go back the next day. Despite all this, there is still so much joy in bringing life into the world even under all this circumstances, and that's what I'm focusing on.

The MSC helps build leaders by providing opportunities to improve skills such as critical thinking, active listening, giving and receiving feedback, and others. What skills did you gain in your involvement with the MSC and how did your time as a student leader prepare you for your role during this challenging and unforeseen time?

My whole job is based on the skills of critical thinking, prioritizing, and working effectively under pressure. During all my years in the MSC, I was forced to critically think in regards to program planning, risk mitigation, and all the daily tasks I had as a student leader. I had wonderful mentors (shout out to Katy King!!) throughout my years that shaped me and taught me how to grow gracefully from feedback.

I have to be a leader, a good communicator, a rapid decision maker, and a hand-to-hold for my patients every single day. I would not have nearly the confidence I do as a nurse if I hadn't had years of doing this in different capacities for years within my roles in the MSC.

If you were to return to your time in the MSC, what skills would you personally focus on strengthening, especially in your current situation?

I think as leaders, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to perform under stressful situations. In college, this meant being able to gracefully balance duties as a student leader, getting good grades, having a job, and fulfilling social obligations. This often led to long days and little rest and it was easy to get overwhelmed.

If I could go back, I would focus on getting better and giving myself rest, grace, and finding joy in those situations. Leaders can't weather storms for long if they don't take care of themselves. Finding joy and reminding myself of what I'm thankful for is the only thing getting my through this current situation. I'm exhausted mentally and physically most days, but the thought that I'm going to get to hug the people I love when this is all over gets me through it. Mommas holding their babies for the first time gets me through it.

The MSC core values are Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, Service and Diversity. What core value best describes the work you do today?

Service. I'm biased because I spent 4 years involved in MSC Freshmen in Service and Hosting. When I walk through the hospital doors in the morning, my mindset changes to putting forth all of myself, my energy, skills and knowledge, to keep my patients safe and healthy. It's a default setting I strengthened from my time serving in the MSC.

What is one of your favorite memories from being involved in the MSC?

I loved the community I had walking into the SPO. There was always someone to talk to and get to know.