Our health professional schools at the University of the Incarnate Word invite students in its mission to serve through an annual effort of the Quijotes of San Antonio. This group, founded in 1989, led by physicians, nurses, and the Sisters of the Incarnate Word, sets up a weeklong clinic in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The clinic, in collaboration with the local Mexican government, offers services in optometry, physical therapy, nutrition, general medicine, pediatric medicine, dentistry, and pharmacy to its community for free.

Now that I have had to navigate the health care system as a patient myself, I feel that being a self-advocate is often easier said than done.