Helping Her Hometown
TouroCOM Middletown Dr. Stephanie Zeszutek on Her Community
This is my hometown, where Touro COM Middletown is, and when I found out that they were repurposing this hospital for a medical school, I thought the town really needs this. So I contacted them and said, what can I do to help? How can I be involved? And here I am now.
Patients don't always share with us everything that they're feeling, or maybe they're having some challenges in expressing how they're feeling. So we really need to be in-tune to their nonverbal cues. Because Orange County just has apple farms and horse farms, we're able to integrate that into the program. We reached out. We developed a protocol and a whole program together that really helps students learn nonverbal cues.
Horses they have this ability to respond to humans. So if you're being too assertive, or if you need to slow down to get the horse to respond to what you need, then you're learning that your actions can also impact how a patient can respond to you.
I always loved the professor that I had who just took a challenging topic and made it really clear. So I always have that goal to really energize the students, make things a little bit more fun, but also keep in mind the serious nature of the information that we're learning and how to apply it to patients. We use imaging, and we use all those types of technologies to help us, but we tell them not to forget that you have ears to listen to the patient, and you have your hands to get to a diagnosis as well, and to use that to be the best physician they can be.
I'm Dr. Stephanie Zeszutek. I am an assistant professor here at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine. Welcome to Touro.
As a twelve-year-old, Dr. Stephanie Zeszutek witnessed her father having a heart attack. “I felt pretty helpless at the time,” recalled Dr. Zeszutek, who grew up in Orange County, NY. “I wished I knew more.”
That early experience led Dr. Zeszutek to pursue a career in the health sciences. After graduating college, she enrolled in pharmacy school and, after a year of practice, decided her next step was medical school.
“My primary interest was in medicine,” said Dr. Zeszutek, “But I appreciate my pharmacy background and bring that experience with me to my classes.”
Years later and by then a successful OBGYN, Dr. Zeszutek heard about a medical school opening in her hometown.
“I grew up in the same community as the medical school,” said Zeszutek. “I knew many people who worked in the hospital before it was turned into a medical school and even people who were delivered at the hospital. I was very excited to hear that the medical school was coming to Middletown. This is my hometown and my ultimate goal was to work in some capacity with the school since it's such a needed educational environment for this community.”
Dr. Zeszutek joined the TouroCOM Middletown faculty in 2014 and she uses Middletown’s rural location to help her students on their path to becoming physicians.
“Because Orange County has horse farms, we’re able to integrate that into the curriculum,” explained Dr. Zeszutek, who runs the school’s Medicine and Horsemanship program. “Patients don’t always share what they’re feeling, or they might be having challenges expressing what they’re feeling. We really need to be in tune with their non-verbal cues. Horses have this ability to respond to humans so if you’re being too assertive or if you need to slow down to get the horse to respond to what you need, you’re learning that your actions impact how a patient will respond to you.”
Last year, Dr. Zeszutek was recognized with a Presidential Faculty Award for Excellence in Service.
