Senior Jomarie Rios wants to become a diagnostic sonographer.
For those unaware of what that job entails, Jomarie likens it to the image of a pregnant woman getting an ultrasound. The medical worker (sonographer) scans the organs of the fetus to see its health. This is an OB-GYN sonographer. There’s also cardiovascular sonography, where sonographers scan the heart and the blood vessels. These jobs are more technical than medical but still help people: a future that Jomarie would love.
“What [diagnostic sonographers] do is just check all the information out [on the sonography machine] and send it to the doctor,” Jomarie said. “The doctor comes to the patient and tells [them] what they have, if they’re healthy. Or, if they have some sort of disease, or maybe the baby is not getting enough nutrients.”
Initially, Jomarie disliked the idea of working in the medical field. Her mother, a nurse, encouraged her to pursue a career in it all the same. However, Jomarie was repulsed by the idea of having to “deal with people that are gonna die.”
At the end of the first semester of her senior year, Jomarie was researching possible jobs. At a loss for what to look for, she ended up taking a personality test, which told her she should be a teacher, therapist, or nurse.
“I went to research art therapy, and I didn’t like it at all because we had to do an interview, and it sucked,” Jomarie said. “But then I went to my second option, which was a nurse. And then I researched more, and I found this profession called diagnostic sonography. That’s what I’ve decided to do now.”
Jomarie plans on attending Grand Valley State University to study Diagnostic Sonography (OB-GYN). When studying the different branches of sonography, she knew immediately that she needed to specialize in helping pregnant women.
“The reason why I chose specifically to work with pregnant women is that in the medical industry [is because] women receive a lot of abuse,” Jomarie said. “I want to be able to talk to them and calm them down in a process as fragile as pregnancy. If they come to a [sonography] meeting, they go to a random sonographer, right? And [the sonographer] is just so ungentle with them. I’ll treat [the patients] with love. I won’t treat them like, ‘You’re my patient; I’m here to get money.’ I’ll [treat them] like, ‘You’re my patient. You’re family now, and I will be here to the point when you have to deliver your baby, so even if you have a miscarriage, I’ll be here for you.’”
After college, Jomarie intends to travel to impoverished areas of the globe to help women who are in greater need than in the United States.
“If I were to live here [as a sonographer], it wouldn’t be as bad compared to if I had to go to India, for example, or anywhere in Latin America,” Jomarie said. “They have high levels of rape, and I will have to be able to make [pregnant women] calm down. If I go to Africa, do you know the number of children, actual children, who are getting pregnant and then abused through the medical field? I want to be able to make them feel safe. In [the United States of] America, the medical field is already so competitive, so I might as well just go where I can go—where people need more of me.”
Jomarie believes that a significant factor in depression and anxiety often witnessed in medical patients is the environment in which adults are surrounded. In pediatric offices and elementary school classrooms, color is vibrant—bursting from the walls and inspiring creativity. In contrast, the grey-centered palate of most offices pressures employees to only work and not live.
Jomarie is aware that some may argue that changing a lifestyle isn’t perfectly simple; therefore, she suggests some simple alterations that can drastically improve quality of life.
“Offices don’t have to be dull,” Jomarie said. “It’s not that expensive to add some color to the paint and more plants. [I also think] we need more education on biology and environmental [science.] Because younger generations are really out of grasp of nature. Even in our speech, we used to compare [things] more to bugs, butterflies, birds, and the river, which made us see more color in nature. But now, it’s comparison to other people, bad words…things that give more negativity than positivity.”
When looking at a world riddled with issues and disasters, Jomarie hopes that people, especially those who have lost hope, can come together to rediscover the novelty of their youth and what they can do for future generations. As a prospective diagnostic sonographer, Jomarie knows that she, at least, will try for a better life for herself and those she treats with love.
“I want adults to communicate,” Jomarie said. “I hate the fact that they’re all like, ‘I’m good.’ Like, what the heck? I’m asking ‘How are you?’ I want [to hear] more. I want, ‘I’m anxious,’ or ‘I’m so freaking excited about skipping work today…’ I don’t care! Because now everyone’s stuck in their own cubicle, and they don’t allow themselves to actually connect to other people empathically. And if you connect to more people empathically, you have more of a community than just a business. That’s where you can be more creative, and your mental health will be better, because you’ll feel like you’re a part of [this] family. It’s just all a matter of bringing yourself out there without being scared of being judged. That will make you more childlike. That will make you wonder…as in like ‘Why is this happening?’ or ‘Oh, I love this,’ or ‘I’m going to say hi to her…’ Make your mind work.”
