The American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA) at my school is
really awesome. I’m not just saying that because I’m on the board, but that
fact helps a lot.
Regardless, last year was the first time we put together an
event called the “High Heel-Athon” which was designed to raise money
for a domestic abuse shelter in Chicago. It was a good event in that we raised a lot of
money—over $500. It was not good in the turnout. We got about 14 people, including
board members, which was depressing, at least to me, a lowly M1 who had yet to
realize that medical students are flooded with apathy.
So this year, the president, the ambitious and
awe-inspiring Alice Lee , and I, decided to tone it back a little bit, and have
a High Heel Gala instead. We were going to get a speaker to give a speech,
pertaining to domestic violence and what we as medical students should know,
and how we should aspire to deal with the situation when we became practicing
physicians. We wanted to not only raise awareness, but we also wanted to help our peers become better
physicians.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find a speaker, so instead my mother (a professor at the school) suggested we give the presentation ourselves. So we did! And not only
was it really nerve-wracking, it turned out totally amazing. Alice Lee and I
are both creative types, so the presentation looked pretty. Alice Lee talked
loudly and authoritatively, and I rambled somewhat less than usual (I suck at
preparing speeches; “I’ll do it live!”)
Even better, more than twenty people, not including board members, showed up
and many of them said they enjoyed the presentation. So below, for your benefit dear reader, I’ve posted some
of the more informative slides:
