Wes GoodrichWesley Goodrich ’14, Newton
Wes Goodrich has been a Bethel graduate for only a short time, but he is already putting his newly gained skills to use. Wes says he practices the “absorption” he learned while taking Basic Issues of Faith and Life, more commonly known as BIFL, the senior capstone course.
“Absorption means making an effort to absorb yourself in life around you—to give yourself fully to life,” he says, and credits his professors with broadening his view on world religions and teaching this “immersion of self.”
Immediately following graduation, Wes completed a year with Mennonite Voluntary Service in Tucson, Arizona, at St. Elizabeth Health Center. “This was a year of working under Dr. Schildt, who allowed me the space to ask questions and explore my interest in medicine,” Wes says.
After that year, Wes returned to the Newton area. He is currently enrolled in a Masters of Public Health program at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita, while also working as an ER registrar at Newton Medical Center.
“The registrar position provides the practical application side of my master’s program,” he notes.
The past two years have raised new questions for Wes about health-care administration and how to practice medicine.
“How do you not become hard-hearted, but offer true healing for humanity when medical costs have tripled, insurance sets parameters on care, and patient visits are limited?” Wes says.
He grapples with these and other difficult questions as he continues to pursue his master’s degree and discern his next steps.
If you ask Wes, the experience is what you make it. “Invest yourself physically, socially and spiritually in life around you, and your experience cannot disappoint,” he says.