Posted on 07/27/2009 5:43:20 PM PDT by antiunion person
After dancing her way through school, former Miami Heat cheerleader has Fabienne Achille traded in her pom-poms for a stethoscope.
From the Heat to the Hospital Watch VideoA former Miami Heat dancer turns in her hot pants for scrubs. The pretty 28-year-old paid her way through pre-med school at University of Miami by cheering on the likes of Alonzo Mourning, then turned her attention to the grueling medical curriculum at University of South Florida. The ballgame glamor made her undergrad days memorable, but it wasn't exactly easy, she says.
“It was a lot of hard work especially being pre-med," Achille, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, says of her dancing days. "But it was definitely a very very enjoyable memorable time in my life.”
The obstetrician is now finishing her residency, delivering babies at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami -- the facility where she was born.
“It’s a hospital that deals with many many minorities, and of course people from my own culture,” she said.
Recently, Achille got to help one of Haiti's most deserving patients, in a well-publicized case that touched the hearts of millions. It was Achille who, with her mother and twin sister, helped arrange for Marlie Casseus, a 14-year-old girl suffering from a dangerous facial tumor, to come to Jackson from Port-Au-Prince for life-saving surgery.
“It has been a definite source of inspiration," Achille said. "It just shows that besides everything else that can be going on in in your life once you can just help someone else I mean its so rewarding.”
Achille has one more year to do in her residency, then she hopes to perform a medical mission to Haiti, where she can while she reaches out to the uninsured in her community. In the meantime, she is especially interested in helping patients without medical insurance.
“We as health care providers need to try to help educate them a little more about what resources are out there to be able to not discriminate just because they don’t have insurance don’t treat them differently," Achille said.
Eventually, she plans to go into private practice. If time permits, she may also take in more Miami Heat basketball games -- but from the stands, not the floor.
1. Yes, an NFL cheerleader becomes a doc would be news.
2. Yes, you are racist. Why not just be happy for her?
I suspect so.
Its the cheerleader angle. Most people have preconceived notions regarding cheerleaders, and this accomplishment runs contrary to these notions...
Nonetheless, not especially newsworthy considering everything else going on - but good for her anyways (I hope she got into Med School based on merit, and not 'other factors').
I don’t see this as being an issue of race, at all. Even if it was, I think it shows hard work pays off.......sort of. It’s a tough time for her becoming a doctor with Zero trying to get his hands on healthcare. I wonder....after the baby cried itself hoarse when born, did she recommend a tonsilectomy based on the reimbursement table?
Invoking the Coulter Rule.
She’s not ‘black,’ she’s Haitian. She’ll be shredded by the Half-ricans as tit is, so there’s no reason for us to pick on her. ;)
I know a stellar young woman who is paying for her private Catholic college to gain her accounting degree. She’s Hooter Girl, and a lovelier young lady you’d never want to meet. Her Grandmother and her Mother were both ‘pin-up girls.’ She sees no problem with making a decent living know while in college to meet her goals. It beats working at Wal-Mart!
We had a chat about her choices a number of years ago, and she was very matter-of-fact. She said (basically) that she knows and loves the art and science of finance and understands that money is fungible. She’s got to make her cash NOW while she’s young and sexy, which is paying her way toward a life of decent employment and security for her later years when’s she’s ‘not all that and a bag of chips.’
I think the angle of the story should be how resourceful these young women are and the FACT that they most likely will carve out their OWN way in the world using the tools God gave them, versus feeling that the REST of us OWE THEM SOMETHING....via our tax dollars. :)
She has better arms than Michell and Its great she will be a doctor too bad she won’t make any money and will be told how to practice and who she can practice on poor girl
But pretty good anyway.
Does this mean she plans on not being paid? If so, she better stay in shape and hang on to those pom poms.
I love Hooter girls. If they can make their lives better, all the more to them. But my reasoning to posting the article is what I stated, if she was a white cheerleader, would this article have been done??
I also knew someone would think I’m racist. To that person, I don’t care what you think.
Does this mean she plans on not being paid? If so, she better stay in shape and hang on to those pom poms.
No. There are other options. She can work on salary for a hospital clinic or an independent clinic that provides services to uninsured patients.
She can also accept cash payments from patients, which is what more and more physicians are choosing to do: they reduce their costs by refusing to handle insurance and can then offer their patients a discounted rate for services in exchange for actual money.
So what she's planning to do is altruistic but it's not, as it might appear, financial suicide. She'll make money. Just not as much as if she were in private practice in a fancy suburb.
When you see race in everything, you become as bad as Henry Gates. This story isn't about race, it's about a very smart and determined young lady who is going into medicine for all the right reasons. God bless her.
I especially admire the fact that she's becoming an obstetrician. Few people are choosing that specialty now because it's so risky from the standpoint of lawsuits, and OB/GYNs have to carry such a huge amount of malpractice insurance that it can be hard for them to make money.
**“It’s a hospital that deals with many many minorities**
Who do you think pays for this?
I have been to Jackson Memorial a few times lately...it’s got the scum of the earth, tons of illegals, its dirty and nasty, but it has, by far, the best doctors in South Florida.
Yeah, probably. Fame, short lived as it may be is largely luck. I am sure this has happened many times before and nobody knew it. I for one see her as an American success story.
“She’ll be shredded by the half-Ricans as tit is”
Didn’t know they did that to those....
Its news because she’s a cheerleader and sure to get a few clicks on an otherwise boring story.
forget the cheerleader or race angle....would this story be newsworthy if it was a country bumpkin from Kentucky who grew up peeing in the outhouse and walking barefoot to school?.....I think not....also, if she wasn't good looking, definately not newsworthy....
so many accomplish so much with out any help or publicity....
I know that. And anyone who treats Medicre patients is going to be doing it for pennies on the dollar, as an act of charity.
forget the cheerleader or race angle....would this story be newsworthy if it was a country bumpkin from Kentucky who grew up peeing in the outhouse and walking barefoot to school?.....I think not....also, if she wasn't good looking, definately not newsworthy....
You're quite right. It's the beauty and sexiness combined with intelligence and determination of the young doctor that's the issue here, not her race.
She is also an example of the fact that poverty and a humble background need not prevent one from becoming a great professional success, despite the whining of minorities.
so many accomplish so much with out any help or publicity....
That's true. The point is, this article would almost certainly have appeared whether the cheerleader was white or black, in part because we tend to think of woman doctors as being geeky and homely and this girl provides a contrast to that inaccurate idea. This was the original issue under discussion.
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