My Experiences as a Medical Social Worker Essay -- career, medical soc

Within the past week, I was able to meet a patient that had been through a very difficult life. He was admitted into the hospital almost one month ago because he had a stroke. He was a carnival worker and was only planning to be in Lexington for a temporary amount of time until the carnival left. When he was admitted into Saint Joseph Hospital, there were no indications that he had family and/or friends that should be contacted. At first, he was unable to talk, and his mobility was extremely limited. Last week, I was shadowing a social worker that had been asked to help fill out an application for this patient to qualify for Social Security because he now had a disability and would be unable to work. This patient didn’t have insurance, and we were determined to help him in any way possible. We went into his room to ask him very simple questions that were on the application, and he was helpful about remembering his past work history over the past 15 years. Unfortunately, he did not have a bank account, had no assets, and had been working as either a company driver and carn...