Open Door Clinic in Middlebury, Vermont

For ten weeks this summer I lived in Middlebury, interning at the Open Door Clinic near Porter Hospital. The clinic is geared toward all uninsured or underinsured residents of Addison County, yet I worked primarily with Mexican migrant dairy farm workers. As a fluent Spanish speaker, I interpreted at medical appointments and translated documents from English. I also found myself engaged in conversations about improving cultural competency at local healthcare practices.

I always feel a little bit culturally confused at Middlebury, a prestigious private liberal arts college with a generally affluent student body. As a full-time student I receive many privileges that make me very much a part of elite society. Life before Middlebury was a little different; my family lived in a tent for the first few years of my life and my education revolved around an incredibly underfunded public school in a rural, working-class environment. I attend college because of very generous financial aid. This summer I found that this mixture of influences could be useful in the professional world, that I could communicate with coworkers, migrant farmworkers, medical professionals, and farmers easily, and switch between different modes of interaction without difficulty.

Another important element of working at Open Door Clinic was to be a part of the Middlebury community as a resident of the town as opposed to a student of the College. Although I was acquainted with some residents of town from my church community, the internship provided me access to the wide array of the Addison County community, from the most privileged to the most deprived. From donors offering tens of thousands of dollars in donations to farm workers unable to speak English and suffering from viral infections, I gained a new appreciation for the vibrant and supportive community that exists in the county and became attune to how students are truly separated from it.

The opportunity to see the infrastructure and opportunities available in Addison County was invaluable. Vermont has provided several free or discounted insurance programs for low-income residents, more than almost anywhere else in the country, including the Doctor Dynasaur program, Green Mountain Care, and free or reduced care plans for low-income patients at all Vermont hospitals. It seems as if these programs, although on the right track, address the symptoms of social inequality rather than the causes.

Working at the clinic this summer made me think more about my own place in the community, and how I might put the excellent education I have received at Middlebury to use. My internship has made me passionate about the rights of immigrants in the United States, both in promoting their rights in this country and observing their reasons for leaving their home countries. I see myself as more of an advocate than an observer in these matters of immigration, and I feel a much deeper connection with the Addison County community.

Forest Jarvis is a member of the class of 2015.