Caduceus Health Society's Impact on Members

Caduceus Health Society's Impact on Members

Beaudoin's goal is to pursue a career as a physician assistant, and begins her application process in April. She wants to pursue cardiothoracic surgery or emergency/critical care medicine.

She enjoys traveling and experiencing new places and would love to live in Europe for a couple of years. She hopes to travel the world throughout her life.

Johnson's first name means "honey" in French and Spanish.

She is in the process of applying to pharmacy schools, and believes that her organization has helped her not only attain volunteer hours for her resume but also get more involved in the community. It helped her "develop solid study skills that I will carry through pharmacy school."

Beaudoin said the Caduceus Health Society (CHS) has helped her grow professionally and made her a strong leader.

"I have gained insight into different areas and professions in medicine. This organization has helped me realize that there are different paths an individual can take in order to end up providing patient care--not just going to medical school to become a physician," said the president.

CHS has helped her build a strong application that will help her get into physician assistant school.

Johnson said it has enabled her to "developed strong friendships with members throughout my time here and I am so proud and happy to be a part of this club."

Although their general interest in science and the human body is what got these two into the medical field they are pursuing different career paths.

"My passion for fighting drug abuse and antibiotic resistance is what led me to pursue pharmacy school," said Johnson.

Beaudoin currently works as a certified nursing assistant at a local-long term care facility and as a peer mentor at ENMU.

The president is currently following a study about treating cancer with antibiotics as a part of her undergraduate seminar course.

However, the biology students are exposed to different types of studies in their classes on a weekly basis.

"This organization provides a community and a network of people who are all interested in going into the allied health professions," said Beaudoin.

CHS does a lot for those entering the health field, for example, they provide opportunities to shadow professionals in the community and have opportunities for community outreach.

"We try to focus on resume-building activities that will also help our members realize their own personal goals and interests," explained Beaudoin.

CHS coordinates study sessions to help students improve their scores for classes and tests required for graduate school.

"We really try to provide a strong support network and help our members reach their professional goals by getting accepted into their prospective fields," said Beaudoin.

They participate in community clean-ups, including "Beautify Portales." You can also find the CHS students helping with local children's homes.

"Our biggest event we are working on organizing again is the Allied Health Symposium, which brings physicians, recruiters from professional schools and other healthcare workers to Portales to give presentations on their profession and how to apply.

"It is highly beneficial for the students in the area to understand how the application process works and to personally meet recruiters. It was a success last year and we hope that the one this year will be as big of a hit, and be even better than before," explained Johnson.

This event allows high school students, community college students and university students to connect with recruiting staff in the allied health professions. Their guests are mainly from UNM health sciences, but some are from ENMU and the community.

Although the organization doesn't focus on attending conferences together, they support each other with their research and several members have attended conferences.

For example, Beaudoin attended the Texas Tech Annual Biological Symposium for her research in Dr. Kenwyn Cradock's lab, and Johnson attended ENMU's Student Research Conference in 2014 and 2015, and presented at Texas Tech in 2015.

Beaudoin is from Tijeras/Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"I had a pretty standard childhood there. I moved to Connecticut and New York during most of my elementary and middle school years. It was interesting to live in such different regions; the people were so different in every place that I lived and I enjoyed being able to experience living in different climates," said Beaudoin.

Johnson grew up in Farmington, New Mexico.

"I honestly really enjoyed it because I think it's a pretty town and was able to keep myself busy through high school. It is very different from Portales, but I really enjoy the people in Portales because they are so friendly," explained Johnson.

Beaudoin's experience as president has taught her to be a leader and manage a large group of people effectively.

"I have gained better communication skills, especially when communication to a large group. In addition to this, the caduceus society has also helped me gain better organizational skills and helped me become more extroverted," said Beaudoin.

Johnson has learned the importance of good communication from her time as vice president.

For the upcoming semester they hope to bring in more members and become more involved with the community.

Johnson graduates in May and hopes to leave the club in "a strong position to continue our successful events and to give room to add even more community give-back activities, strong study groups and beneficial fundraisers for both the club and the community."

They are also hoping to get a group together to volunteer with hospice.

Both of their favorite memories are centralized around their organization's Allied Health Symposium last fall.

"There were so many people and they all looked so interested and excited! It made me feel proud and accomplished to have been a part of such a great event that has had such a huge impact on students from all over this region. I really felt like we brought something good to the school and could benefit a large amount of people," explained Beaudoin.

Johnson said "I think my favorite memory was last year at our Allied Health Symposium reception the night before the actual symposium. It is my favorite memory because we got to have a nice dinner and I got to personally meet the assistant dean, recruiter, and a professor from UNM's pharmacy school and we got to talk for an hour about pharmacy school and college.

"It was a great opportunity for me to get my name in the program and I just had a genuinely good time visiting with them and asking questions. It was a perfect example of the benefits of being involved in Caduceus."

For more information about the Caduceus Health Society, contact Megan Beaudoin at [email protected].

 

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