Submitted by Krista Johnson on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Hawaii sponsored by the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences and the School of Education…
After going to Hawaii and experiencing the culture for one whole month as part of a study away program, I can confidently say there have been many moments where I have felt a culture shock. To me however, my experience shadowing a developmental pediatrician, Dr. Okamoto, had to have been the most impactful. Out of all the students in HDFS270, only Taylor and I went to shadow Dr. Okamoto. We spent the entire day in his clinic, from about 8:00 am till 4:30 pm. Even though, we were able to leave around noon, we chose to spend the whole afternoon because shadowing his work was not only fascinating, but also humbling.
There are very few developmental pediatricians in Hawaii, as well as around the world. I had no idea what to expect coming into his clinic, but I assumed it would be like how most pediatrician offices operate. What I found was completely the opposite. Dr. Okamoto spends an hour and a half with each patient and never gives a diagnosis on the first visit. Throughout the whole day, we got to witness five different patients. After each patient, he would talk with us about each case, and he even encouraged Taylor and I to participate in some wayduring the shadowing, which shocked me because back home on the East Coast I would never imagine speaking in the room with the patient. Dr. Okamoto explained how before diving into the real talk with his patients he would “talk story” and get to know the families. He would get down to the level of the child and truly listen to what they had to say. I have never met a more personable, knowledgeable, and overall genuine medical professional than Dr. Okamoto. He even would crack jokes throughout the visit to make the patients feel a sense of family, and welcoming, which I have found to be a very big part of Hawaiian culture.
My visit with Dr. Okamoto gave me a real life understanding of just how broad of a range of disabilities children can have, and how broad the severity levels can be. With each different family I got to meet, I got to see how that disability affected them as well. One mother had me in tears, as she told the story of her adopted 13-year-old daughter with fetal alcohol syndrome who was also in the room. Her daughter’s condition was costing the family a lot of money, time, and attention that took away from her other children’s needs. Dr. Okamoto played the family counselor role for this mother, just as he was so flexible in playing many different roles for different families that came in that day.
I was thankful to have this shadowing experience and to have witnessed families’ who have children with disabilities such as fetal alcohol syndrome, ADHD, learning impairments, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. It was so interesting to have a pediatrician discuss possible solutions and diagnosis with Taylor and I after the families had left the room. Overall, I would do this day over again, ten times, if it meant getting to see new patients and learning about new disabilities and how it affected other families. I hope to become a medical professional in the future and work to the best of my ability to assist persons with disabilities so this experience was truly remarkable. This day was instantly impactful, but the effects I will continually consider throughout my lifetime.