Ever since she was a little girl, Zoe Johnson has dreamed of becoming a doctor.
Last month the 17-year-old senior at Riverview High School got a once-in-a-lifetime experience. She traveled halfway around the world to live out her dream courtesy of the program “FutureDocs Abroad.”
Johnson spent two weeks in Vietnam, where she joined a small but prestigious group of honors students from high schools and colleges from around the country. Their only connection is their dream of becoming a doctor one day.
“It was a little nerve-wracking at first because I obviously didn't know the other kids who would be going on the trip with me,” said Johnson. “But once we all got to JFK, we all got to know each other. So, it got a little less scary now that I kind of had friends to go along on the crazy journey with me.”
Johnson and the group got hands-on experience and shadowed doctors on their daily rounds.
“I got to watch some cool surgeries and be in the operation room. We practiced suturing, we practiced nursing,” said Johnson. “We also got a lot of hands-on one-on-one connectivity with the patients in the hospital despite the language barrier.”
Johnson quickly learned even with the language barrier, personal connections are a universal language.
“As we all know, emotions are universal. So, it's easy to pick up on if somebody's distressed or if they're happy,” said Johnson.
Bryony Moffitt from Future Docs Abroad said this program is about so much more than watching surgeries and learning sutures.
“Being face to face with patients and pain, dealing with the look, you know, observing the communication between the physician and the family members, etc.,” said Moffitt. “During these very difficult times, this really gives them a leg up when they are moving into the five, four or five years of medical school to really speak to it, you know, that experience that they've already had.”
Because of privacy laws and insurance regulations in the United States, high school and undergraduate college students are restricted from being in hospitals in this country.
Johnson's parents accepted that, but it certainly didn't make their decision to let their teenager go halfway around the world on her own any easier. Her mother, Stacy Johnson, admitted she was nervous.
“At first, it was very daunting. The very fact of my daughter being halfway around the world from her dad,” said Stacy. “And it really did give us pause. However, I prayed over her and said, go and be great.”
Johnson did. Now her next journey begins.
“It really helped me say like, wow, this is really what I want to do. This is who I want to be,” said Johnson. “The doctors were just such good role models to look up to. So yes, it was worth it. It’s definitely worth it!”
To learn more about FutureDocs Aboard, click here.
