We welcomed five optometry students in November and they are already on the move learning alongside our team of skilled and competent optometrists. The internship program presents win/win solutions as students will travel and assist throughout the communities we serve as they gain the clinical experience they need to graduate.  Trevor Phillips, Sidney Magdaong, and Kain Myer started their internship in early November, while Jessica He and Charlyne Jiang joined the group this week.

These five students come to us from Indiana University School of Optometry and New England College of Optometry. We thank our interns for choosing YKHC as their internship site and wish them well as they look forward to graduating in 2024!

In response to questions about their decision to choose YKHC and what they hope to gain on their internship, what attracted them to optometry, first impressions of YKHC and our Bethel community, and advice to prospective optometry students, our optometry interns say:

I chose YKHC to gain valuable experience in both rural community optometry and hospital-based optometry. Also, as an individual who loves visiting new places, Bethel was the perfect externship for me to explore somewhere new and make wonderful new friends in another area of the world.

The hospital is NICE and the people in the community are very welcoming.

I would like to gain valuable experience in both rural community optometry and hospital-based optometry, as well as being able to think more independently as a clinician. My internship in undergrad, as well as positive experience with optometry as a patient, drew me to this profession. I would say if you are even remotely interested in optometry, do it! It is a growing profession with a lot of demand and great rewards. I love my decision to pursue optometry every day.

I wanted one of my externships to be adventurous, and what more adventure is there than doing optometry in rural Alaska. YKHC is the nicest clinical setting I have ever been in. I’ve never had a room all to myself! I feel like I have a lot of independence here. The Bethel community is also very welcoming and kind. I love the food here, and I am actually surprised at how much there is to do here. I have always loved math, patient care, and using cool instruments & machines; optometry combines all of these interests into one. Optometry is a small, but important community. It’s a beautiful career, much of which is based fundamentally on the physics of light. It’s a very hands-on career that is all the more fulfilling.

I chose YKHC because I have never been to Alaska and I really wanted to experience an Alaskan winter. Additionally, I wanted to compare and contrast the differences of providing eyecare at where I grew up versus here. My first impression of YKHC and the Bethel community was very positive. The hospital is very clean and nice with great technology/equipment. The employees are friendly and very helpful. As far as the community, it seems very close knit. It seems like people look out for one another and the individuals I have met greet you with kindness and respect. It reminds me of the small town I grew up in. People only get one shot at vision and I want to help provide those in need with the best vision possible. I personally believe becoming an optometrist is a great career with many specialties to fit everyone’s likes and dislikes. It is a career with a great life/work balance and it is also a very fulfilling career that allows you to help patients see the best that they ever have.

I chose YKHC for these reasons: destination site as I will never get a chance to come to Alaska again; different population as most of the population in Boston community health center is Spanish speaking, Haitian Creole speaking or Albanian; I hope to learn more about the culture here, gain more insight into rural healthcare, and become a better clinician in general.

First impressions of YKHC and Bethel? It’s a very large hospital! It’s a very small town!

What attracted me to a career as an optometrist? I had my first eye exam at 16, and I thought all the machines were really cool.  I also had a terrible experience at my first eye appointment, and I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through that.

 If you are thinking of becoming an optometrist, then my advice is to shadow several different optometrists to get a feel of the day to day life, talk to current students about their schooling, talk to recent graduates about how they felt about their journey and where they are now, and consider the time and money investment.

I chose YKHC because it is a different experience in a new and unique location. I hope to help serve underserved communities where the demand for healthcare outweighs the supply, become more adept at dealing with all types of eye problems, and increase my confidence and independence as a clinician. YKHC is a very large hospital in a very small community with a small-town feel. Everyone we’ve met so far have been very nice and friendly! I have always thought that vision is the most important of all our senses. Having worn glasses since I was in elementary school, I know firsthand the importance of vision and how detrimental it is when impaired. I want to help people to protect, maintain, and improve their vision the way that my optometrists did growing up. If you are thinking of becoming an optometrist, shadow an optometrist and make sure it’s something you really want to do and also consider working in an optometry office to get a real feel for the job.

Our appreciation goes to the seasoned optometrists who mentor and support these students as preceptorship requires enormous time commitment in the form of training, monitoring and evaluating. An internship program, however, offers win/win solutions in the development of our workforce as they provide students with exposure to chosen careers and an opportunity for YKHC to build capacity with fresh perspectives. Positive, engaging internship experiences immersed in YKHC’s culture make it more likely that our interns will return to work for us in the future.