Meet Nichole Rogovoy
Friends International Medical Teams volunteer pursuing a medical career
Over the years, more than two dozen students who have volunteered on Friends International Medical Teams have been influenced by the experience and chose to pursue a career in medicine or health care.
Nichole Rogovoy heard about Friends International Medical Teams from her long-time pediatrician, Dr. Mari Kay Evans-Smith. Throughout the years, when she had her check-ups, Dr. Evans-Smith told Nichole about her most recent medical team trip in a developing nation.She served on her first Friends International Medical Team to Haiti in 2014 when she was an 18-year-old high school senior. Except for visiting Vancouver, B.C., Canada, it was her first trip out of the country, her first time in a developing country and her first time volunteering for a medical team.
Nichole explained how she volunteered for her first medical team in Haiti in 2014: “I’d felt inspired watching Dr. Evans-Smith go on medical team trips. I saw signs at her clinic requesting donations. I heard her talk about her experiences on these trips. Truthfully, I idolized that she did this. One time I mentioned to Dr. Evans-Smith that I wished I could volunteer on a medical team, and she said, ‘Why don’t you join us?’ I was in a health careers program in my high school, and I’d already had the opportunity to spend time in a hospital for rotations. Volunteering on the Haiti medical team was a great capstone to that experience to see what it was really like.”
She served on her second Friends International Medical Team in Kenya in 2019 when she was 23 during her gap year between completing her bachelor’s degree and waiting to hear if she’d been accepted into medical school. Two weeks after she returned from Kenya, she was accepted into medical school.
“When Dr. Evans-Smith asked me to go to Kenya, I didn’t even have to think about it,” she said. “I realized I needed one more touch back to my values and what drew me to medicine before I started medical school. Being a part of a Friends International Medical Team had a big impact on me. I wanted to be a part of it.”
Now 26, the Portland, Oregon native has been focused on pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor. Nichole earned a bachelor of science in Chemistry from University of Oregon. She will earn her medical degree from Oregon Health Sciences University in March 2023. After that she’ll apply for a residency. She plans to practice internal medicine. Because of her bedside manner she learned from her pediatrician Dr. Evans-Smith, she is considering becoming a hospitalist.
Q: What tasks did you perform on the Haiti medical team?
A: I was the scribe for Kristin Case, Nurse Practitioner, who was great and engaged and helped me learn. She really made me feel I was a part of the team and that I made a difference.
Q: What was your biggest challenge in Haiti?
A: Leaving home and my comfort zone to go to a place with unreliable water and power and exposing myself to emotional challenges since I hadn’t traveled much at all. Spending time in a developing nation and experiencing things that are dangerous. Second, to see people go so far out of their way to get medical care, but then to realize that our team wasn’t able to give them what they needed or sometimes we didn’t have enough time to see all the patients. Being part of the Haiti Medical Team was an eye-opening emotional experience.
Q: What was the most important thing you learned in Haiti?
A: The conversations that the other practitioners had around the dinner table at night helped me see their passion for medicine that I could relate to. That was something I hadn’t seen before. Also watching the providers experience challenges and trying to figure out—sometimes until late at night—what a patient’s problem was.
Q: What’s your favorite memory of the Haiti medical team?
A: The first time I suggested treatment ideas or thoughts and the provider was really excited about my idea. It felt like I contributed for the first time. Being around the dinner table and connecting with all these great mentors. Everyone helped me to prepare for college. What a gift to experience that tight, amazing community!
Q: How did your experience in Haiti influence your decision to study medicine?
A: Being part of the Haiti medical team gave me a foundation to my values system and choices. I’ve experienced this and been around these people and I loved it. Before my trip to Haiti, I was so nervous to go to college and share a bathroom in the dorm, but going to Haiti, I loved every second—even the challenges. I didn’t care about the shower not working, the mosquito net. Knowing that I had this passion for medicine and serving others kept me going through college.
Q: What tasks did you perform on your second medical team in Kenya?
A: I was a jack-of-all-trades and did whatever was most helpful for the team. I started in triage and then worked with the clinic manager to help manage crowds. I also worked in the pharmacy and learned how to draw blood in phlebotomy. I accompanied provider Dr. Pilar Buerk when she saw her patients. I took each patient’s H & P (history and physical) and reported back to her. I taught some community health classes. Because it was my second trip, I knew how the teams flowed so I filled in the gaps.
Q: What was the biggest challenge for you in Kenya?
A: The Kenya trip was a much more difficult trip because it was our first time there. We really needed to be flexible. It was different than Haiti, where the team had set up clinics there for so many years that everything worked like clockwork. In Kenya we had to go more with the flow. The patient population was harder. There was more political unrest. It was harder to understand the medical culture in Kenya and to try to figure out the ethical thing to do. In the Kenyan culture, they didn’t share medical information like we do in our culture. In Kenya we had more resources like hospitals than in Haiti, but it was hard knowing that people would leave the clinic and may not receive follow-up care or understand what they were supposed to do next.
Q: What was the most important thing you learned in Kenya?
A: My experience in Kenya really helped put me ahead of the curve in understanding and accepting the reality of medicine. You won’t always have an answer and don’t always need one. It can be more about providing compassion and understanding about what is going on with the patient. We had a patient who clearly had metastatic cancer with tumors. It was obvious it would be a life-ending illness. If this patient had been in the U.S., there would be biopsies to find the answers, followed by treatments. But with this diagnosis in Kenya, there wouldn’t be treatments offered. In Kenya, I learned it was more about confirming that the patient is sick and holding their hand and being there for their family. Knowing the details of the tumor isn’t going to change the outcome. I have a different outlook with my patients now. I can tap more into the human side better than if I hadn’t had those experiences in Kenya.
Q: Do you have a favorite memory of the Kenya medical team?
A: I remember a little girl about 8 years old, who was sharp as a tack, really bright, and working on her English. She came for a pediatric checkup with her mom. The little girl said because she met me, she wanted to be a doctor, too. In Kenya I had time to interact with the kids more. Sometimes I think about how we don’t always know a patient’s outcome, but this moment with this little girl felt like a moment of impact. I helped show her that a young woman can aspire to become a doctor. Maybe one day she’ll become a doctor and serve her own community.
Q: How did your experience in Kenya influence your decision to study medicine?
A: I’d already decided to study medicine, but being on the Kenya medical team influenced my choice of specialty and residency. I want to pursue internal medicine or hospitalist and then possibly specialize in cardiology. I want to be able to do the most good when I return by having a foundation in general training.
Q: Do you see yourself doing more international medical team work?
A: Absolutely! I’d go wherever the opportunities and teams are built in an ethical manner. I feel passionate about Africa and connected with the Kenyan culture. Many residencies have rotations in Africa as part of the training. My dream is to return to a Friends International Medical team as a medical provider. I want to be part of the protocol development and thinking through the medicine.
Q: Who or what have been the greatest influences for you to study medicine?
A: Dr. Evans-Smith has been my greatest influence. She was my pediatrician and she inspired me. I had no other doctors in my life. She was a fabulous pediatrician. Now I realize how thorough and good at communication Dr. Evans-Smith was. My own bedside manner and way I communicate with my own patients is my greatest skill. I learned that from Dr. Evans-Smith.
