Miami Proud: On The Front Lines Of The Pandemic With Broward Health Dr. Jean Dominique Foureau
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - This August, over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, a young man stepped into his dream job at Broward Health as a doctor.
Not only was it his dream job, but he is doing it in the same town where he grew up, Pompano Beach.
Dr. Jean Dominique Foureau, or "Doctor JD," is a first-year emergency medicine resident sharing his path and how he plans to pay it forward.
CBS4 interviewed Dr. Foreau and here is what he had to say:
Q. "Can you describe your upbringing?"
A. "My mother was a nurse all her career. I would see how she impacted people, families, community- I saw how hard she worked and how she was respected. I wanted to do something similar. Everybody around me supported what I wanted to do in regards to keeping me out of trouble from certain things.
Q. "Could you tell us about your education?
A. I went to high school right up the road at Deerfield Beach High school, then I went to Florida State University, 'go 'noles!' (laughs) then I went to AUC American University of the Caribbean in St. Martin. Then got a chance to go to England and did all my clinical rotations down in Miami with Jackson Health."
Q. "You also joined the Army?"
A. "I knew how long (what I needed to do) to get into medical school, and I knew how long of a gap I was going to have- about a year and a half or so. I was like 'let me enlist as a medic in the Army' because I know I wanted to be a provider for the Army anyway. I'm still in the Army National Guard."
Q. "How has it been to start working during the pandemic?"
A. "I was able to help patients during the pandemic, that's a once in a lifetime experience. It's a little nerve-wracking, overwhelming, at first but when you look at it from the grand scheme of things, to be able to help people at this time, to be a provider at this time, it's a once in a lifetime experience."
Q. "How do you want to pay it forward?
A. "I want to be able to get into Deerfield Beach High School, Deerfield Beach Middle, get in touch with kids that are interested in medicine and give them exposure. If I could inspire one to come back and do what I'm doing that's a win for me."
Q. "What's most rewarding for you?"
A. To be able to serve in this community, that's everything for me. To have a patient come in and know that I'm from here, to be able to speak the language that they speak. I'm Haitian, both of my parents are Haitian immigrants. To be able to fluently speak to a patient that doesn't speak English very well, that means everything. I'm doing exactly what I wanted to do and I am doing it exactly where I wanted to do it."
