A Palliative Physician in the Making
A Grade 10 student volunteer is inspired to pursue a career in medicine.
Bijan Teja

Bijan Teja chose to volunteer with Art à la Carte as part of his Grade 10 Outreach requirement at West Island College. The experience proved to be transformative as you will read in the following essay from his medical school application. (reprinted here with permission) Words cannot begin to express the pride we feel for Bijan, an exceptional humanitarian whose call to service as a compassionate caregiver has only just begun.

The Three Sisters (Image by Steve Baylin)

"I believe that as every aspiring physician moves forward toward a career in medicine, they solidify their understanding of the experiences and life lessons which inspired them to that field. At the age of fifteen when I first began working with Art à la Carte, I found what quickly became a great passion of mine: working with patients on the palliative care ward. Since then my desire to dedicate my life to this pursuit has been strengthened and enhanced by the people I have met and the experiences I have had with the program. In this short narrative I hope to give you a glimpse of the way I have grown through my work with the program, how I have internalized this experience in my life, and how the program has solidified my desire to become an exceptional doctor.

During my time with Art à la Carte, I 'carted' various reproductions around to patients. They could borrow as many of them as they wanted, and I would talk to them as I helped put their new pictures on their walls. Contrary to what many of my friends feared, the palliative care ward was pleasant. My favorite moments were when a patient would find a picture that reminded them of their personal life. Whether it was of a skyscape or a spaniel, it always held a story and I loved to see the emotion in their eyes as they fondly remembered their past. Once in a while, I would meet a patient who not only wanted a picture, but also wanted someone to visit with them. I remember one elderly lady who requested a portrait of a rose and then invited me in and asked me to sit next to the window with her. Despite the limited view, she appreciated what she had. We sat together happily admiring the sunshine in the parking lot below. I began to see that we are more than organs, skin and bones, and that healing can be an emotional process as much as it is a physical one.

When I first began volunteering with the program, I thought that a picture was just a decoration. However, based on the picture the patient chooses, I can get an idea of who they are. I remember an especially enthusiastic woman who asked for a portrait of The Three Sisters Mountain Resort in Canmore, as she was an avid hiker who had spent many weekends there. The act of choosing a picture together gives me the opportunity to broach a relationship of friendship and trust with the person. When I am fortunate enough to gain their confidence, we begin to talk and for the duration of my visit I try to let the person forget s/he is a patient through listening to the stories and remembrances that bare the human being separate from the patient. When someone has cancer, their entire life revolves around treatment of the disease. The volunteer’s role is to look past the illness and bring out the artist, the cook, the musician beneath. The picture provides me with the spark to do that. It serves as an emblem of the patient’s personal life, and allows me to get to know them, to bring out the human spirit and to learn in a variety of ways from the connection that we share.

Through my work on the floor, I have internalized many important aspects of patient care and I believe that I can put these principles into practice as a physician. The Art à la Carte program has solidified my desire to become a doctor whose work goes beyond the physical treatment of patients and I look forward to continuing to learn from my experiences on the floor with a view toward excelling in this pursuit."