D’Monte Farley

Question: Tell us a little bit about your background, where you grew up, and what led to  your current career path as a medical student? 

D’Monte:  I’m originally from St. Paul, Minnesota. Born and raised the youngest of five children. I grew up  in a single-parent household, which came with financial insecurity, and learning how the world  treated people that were viewed as having a lower socio-economic status. I participated in sports throughout my high school career, and by the grace of God, was afforded the opportunity to attend college on an athletics scholarship. I ran track in college; first at the University of North  Dakota and then I transferred to the University of North Carolina where I got my bachelor’s in  kinesiology. And then somewhere along that path I got convinced to go to medical school. For a long time, I never considered becoming a doctor, mostly because I don’t recall seeing any  black people in my immediate community that were physicians. It truly wasn’t something that  was on my radar; however the courses I was taking throughout undergrad in pursuit of my  exercise science degree introduced me to the world of medicine and healthcare. I thought about  athletic training or physical therapy. From there It was not a terribly huge transition to make a  track switch to the pre-medical route – there was just a lot of extra work I had to do on the back  end. I’m grateful to my support system and those in my corner because they encouraged me  every step of the way to not quit on myself, and to keep going even when the road got tough. I  applied for medical school in 2017 originally and was working doing research at an EPA  partnered facility in North Carolina called CEMALB (Center for Environmental Medicine,  Asthma and Lung Biology). I met amazing mentors there: Dr. Neil Alexis, Heather Wells, Dr.  Michelle Hernandez, and Dr. David Peden to name a few. Unfortunately I did not get in that  application cycle, but my experience there was very insightful. I had to go back to school and do  a post-bacc program at UNC Greensboro; and I applied the following application cycle and  matriculated in the fall of 2020.

I have two more rotations: my internal medicine rotation and my general surgery rotation, then I  will officially be a fourth-year student. It was definitely a nonlinear journey getting to medicine  as there was a lack of modeling as well as difficulty finding mentorship early on. But looking back,  I don’t regret my journey to get here because it made me the person I am today, and I’m excited  about what the future holds.

Question: What are you looking forward to in this internship, and do you anticipate any  challenges when you’re connecting with people outside of Compassion & Choices? 

D’Monte: It goes without saying that this is a unique opportunity. I never pictured myself as someone who  would broach the subject with a lot of people about the death and dying process; not to mention  the different disparities that individuals face towards the end of life. I’m someone who has a lot  of anxiety surrounding death and the dying process. This position is different from anything I’ve  done prior, but was ultimately a leap of faith because I do think this will help me become a  better, well-rounded physician. I’m looking forward to stepping out of my comfort zone, meeting  new people and adding this skill to my toolbox. In school we only have a couple lectures on this  topic, and then we have a standardized patient encounter where we have to educate a patient on advanced directives, palliative care and hospice. Outside of that we don’t get a lot of robust,  targeted experience regarding the end of life unless we seek it out. So, this is a big opportunity  for me to interface with a lot of different people and broaden my understanding of what palliative  care and hospice are, and what that can mean for different communities.

In any community, I can imagine that the topic of death is not always at the forefront of  conversations because it is an uncomfortable one to have. Like other well-documented  examples of health inequity, the African-American community faces worse outcomes and  disparities even at the end of life. I was discussing this with Dr. Thoman too, that this subject  matter is multifaceted and complex. From a cultural aspect, there’s a lot of people in our  community, especially the elders, that are often looked at to be the foundation, and the “strong”  one in their respective families and in the community. No one wants to be looked at as though  they are weak or frail. From a religious aspect, we know our God is capable of anything that is  asked of him; so, it’s hard to be okay with succumbing to an illness and forgoing one’s faith.  Other similar situations such as these could play a role in leading to some of the disparities that  we see towards end-of-life care. That’s why it is so important for us as physicians and  community members to be informed to make the best decisions that will not only affect us, but  our families as well. If death and dying aren’t readily talked about and normalized, how are  people going to seek out the appropriate resources and get the knowledge that they need?

This is a good opportunity for me to take this information and potentially impact a lot of people  by simply opening up that conversation. In that same vein, I think one potential roadblock or  difficulty could be initiating those conversations because — in my personal experience — that’s  not something that’s readily spoken of. Even in my family we will typically discuss death only when tragedy acutely happens, but I feel like there’s less talk about planning to navigate that  process. The lack of those conversations can leave families’ loved ones in unfortunate situations  on figuring out how to make certain healthcare decisions for their family members. What  individuals want can be left unknown, leaving people vulnerable to aggressive treatments that  deprioritize comfort. Gaining trust with patients and community members can help to mitigate  those discussions, especially if there is familiarity based on connections with the community, or even looking like those who may make up said community. I’m looking forward to being able to  facilitate that.

Question: Outside of work and school, what keeps your interest and how do you spend  your free time? 

D’Monte: Outside of school I would say that I’m an active, sporty type of person. I used to be a sprinter in  college so while I’m not really competing anymore, I still like to run, go outside and be active. I’m  a big Netflix and YouTube person, if I’m being honest. I can stay on that for hours when I’m not  studying. I also make music as well. I’ve been doing that seriously since college – probably my  second, third year of undergrad. I do that as a form of self-expression and stress relief. I would say my genre is hip-hop, lofi, even electronically inspired depending on my mood at that  particular time. Otherwise, I generally just like to be around people, my friends at school and my  family.