Deetya Ladi, sophomore, sat fascinated as she watched her uncle perform a hysterectomy, a surgery to remove a uterus.
“After that, I knew I wanted to be a doctor,” Ladi said. “ The amount of skill and precision required inspired me.”
Her uncle is a surgeon who owns a hospital in India called Shyamala Memorial Hospital, and Ladi said he is one of her biggest inspirations.
As he explained human anatomy to her, Ladi knew she wanted to pursue a career in healthcare. So, when she got to high school, she decided to join the school’s Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club.
“The club is the perfect way to get started and learn more about the field in general,” Ladi said.
HOSA is a competition-based club in which students are empowered to become leaders in global health through education, collaboration and more.
Partnering with her friends, sophomores Samridhi Singh and Saanvi Makkapati, they chose the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) Partnership as their competition event.
The MRC Partnership is an event in which competitors create activities that improve public health, benefit emergency services and strengthen local communities. Ladi said she chose this event because she hopes to benefit her entire community.
“I feel like if we are competing to be the best at something, we should also help others in the community,” Ladi said.
Some of the events in which Ladi and her partners have already completed included placing menstrual baskets in the MHS bathrooms, which contain dark chocolate, pads, liners and tampons; coordinating self defense workshops; and presenting on various issues within the healthcare space.
“We know that realistically the three of us can’t do as much as we hope to, but we feel like this is a good first step in promoting public health,” Ladi said.
Singh said their team placed second at the HOSA State competition on March 24-25 and that they qualified for Nationals. Before the Nationals competition, they have big plans.
“We are starting to build our social media outreach,” Singh said. “Instead of impacting 30 to 40 people, we can impact thousands.”
In their portfolio, they have amassed 20 events and they have many ideas they want to implement before their national competition, Singh said.
“We’re working on coordinating more with the fire safety district near us,” Singh said. “Also, we’re working on ALS awareness, and we’re planning a Go-Fund-Me page.”
Makkapati said their team has been able to accomplish many of their tasks because of their organization. They meet every week and plan everything out, and they brainstorm everything together.
“It’s a nice way to make sure everything is getting done and we’re not procrastinating,” Makkapati said.
Makkapati said their team will divide up work by making each team member coordinate an activity, and then work together for feedback.
“My favorite part is seeing how many people we impacted,” Makkapati said. “It makes you want to do it all again.”
