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Dogs, turtles and healing beyond the hospital door
Published Oct. 8, 2025
I last set foot in my medical school’s hospital in late June. I still remember that day — and the whirlwind of emotions I felt.
I had just finished my first sub-internship — the most demanding rotations in medical school — where students are expected to perform at the level of a physician resident. I was reeling from the joy of making a three-year-old laugh (a skill I am still learning); the immense sadness of seeing an abnormal growth on the MRI scan of a middle schooler; the quiet strength of the mom I assured everything was going to be OK with her son; and the awful pain of standing outside the room of a dying newborn.
Months later, I found myself standing outside Stanford Hospital, where that flurry of emotions hit me again. But this time, I didn’t have scrubs on. I didn’t have a stethoscope wrapped around my neck either. I replaced it with a camera. I was there to observe, as a journalist.
I did just that, and I watched as patients and hospital employees streamed into and out of the building from the circular driveway of the hospital. These photographs tell the stories of the people I met while on my first photo shoot.
Rosario Luna sat on a bench adjacent to the main doors of the Stanford Hospital. She wanted to be as far away from her husband and brother-in-law as possible. “My husband’s on one side and then his brother’s on the other, and they’re just kind of like staring at each other. I feel that tense vibe,” she said. Luna was at the hospital visiting her father-in-law, who was in the operating room getting his gallbladder removed. “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed,” she said. “I suffer [from] anxiety. I had to step out for a minute.”
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
“It was pretty hectic, but we worked through it,” Joseph Moreno explained as he stood outside Stanford Hospital. Moreno, who works in the hospital kitchen, said his coworkers called out sick today. But the chaos of the day kept him going, and the turtle tattoo on his right hand symbolizes longevity.
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
“I'm so glad I don't have to go through and have them open me up again,” Lita Allen said. Allen, who was discharged from Stanford Hospital, said she’s looking forward to seeing her dogs, Shiloh and Bella. “Since I've been back, Shiloh has not left my side,” Allen said with a smile. “When I go out that door, he’s waiting for me when I get back. And he's whining right now because I'm gone overnight.” Her son, Frankie Thompson, is by her side as they try to find their ride home to Sonoma, Calif.
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
Frankie Thompson pushes his mom, who was discharged from Stanford Hospital, in a wheelchair. With all their bags packed, his mom is ready to return home to her two dogs. Thompson, though, is returning to a drug treatment facility. He said he left the facility this weekend so he could be by his mother’s side.
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
It’s 6:22 p.m. and Stanford Hospital’s cafe is not closed. As customers enjoy what the cafe has to offer, Leo Villareal's Buckyball, a 30-foot sculpture of illuminated geodesic domes, lights up the windows of the cafe.
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
The valet attendant’s chair sits empty at Stanford Hospital. It’s 6:26 p.m. and the valet service is closed.
Michal Ruprecht/Peninsula Press
Michal Ruprecht is the 2025-26 Stanford Global Health Media Fellow and a fourth-year medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine.
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