Peter left France five years ago for the United States to work on a second degree. When he arrived he took an interest in medicine. First, he thought of being a paramedic, but several people encouraged him to pursue medical school.

At the University of Texas at Arlington, Peter says “I’d been hearing ‘Mission Arlington^®’ here and there” and about other students volunteering, so in January he visited to donate some of his time.

After several weeks, Peter joined the Americorp VISTA intern program. Since then he has been a regular sight, doing triage, working the front desk, doing data entry or computer work, processing lab work, and calling patients to follow-up. He loves the variety and shadowing the doctors to build experience. Peter graduated in May and hopes to be accepted to a medical school in the coming weeks.

The office manager, Jean, says about Peter, “His service has been invaluable in our clinic. He is giving much care and time to our patients. It is our hope that he will be accepted (to medical school), as we are sure he will make a wonderful and highly competent doctor who really cares for his patients.”

Peter’s favorite thing about working at the clinic is “the hard cases:” the people who refuse to take their medicine, the people who will not change their diets. Peter says, “You get to change their behavior a little bit and get them to understand. When you get them to agree on things and 3 months, 6 months later, the results are getting normal.” Peter has been building relationships with the patients and sees how much the doctors and volunteers care. The clinic is not how he initially envisioned it.

“It’s a great place, Mission Arlington^®, I didn’t expect that from it. I just thought ‘Medical clinic. We’ll go do our jobs.’ But it’s much more than that. Much more.”