jcameron

Last Thursday was quite an eventful night. With this being the only night the Orientation at Children's hospital was offered, I had to miss hockey practice to make it. The bus ride down wasn't too bad, a little long, but I didn't get lost which was quite an accomplishment. I feel the orientation was very helpful in preparing me for things I may face or run across during my time volunteering at the hospital. The most informative part of the orientation was the "volunteer panel". They had volunteers from all areas of the hospital come in and share their experiences, their favorite parts about their volunteer work and also some challenges they've faced while volunteering at Children's. We were able to ask them questions about their work, which was very helpful. One of the volunteers talked about his opportunity to work with patient and staff safety in the hospital and how he is working on projects to help cut down on avoidable accidents in the hospital. He also talked about his supervisor, a doctor at Children’s, is very helpful in providing him with job shadowing opportunities and recommendation letters whenever he needs them. We went over the hospitals policies and talked a lot about patient confidentiality. After the orientation, and few other people from the class and myself waited a half hour out in the cold for the bus! I had never been so happy to see a bus in my entire life. The orientation made me really exciting to start my volunteering. There are so many opportunities available to me through Children’s hospital and I am really looking forward to taking advantage of them all. We went over the hospitals policies and talked a lot about patient confidentiality. After the orientation, and few other people from the class and myself waited a half hour out in the cold for the bus! I had never been so happy to see a bus in my entire life. It took up an entire night of mine, but I feel that the orientation made me really exciting to start my volunteering. There are so many opportunities available to me through Children’s hospital and I am really looking forward to taking advantage of them all. Hearing the volunteer’s first hand stories about helping kids and really making a difference in their lives means so much to them. One of the volunteers shared a story about how she came in and played with a little girl in the sibling play area. A few weeks later she saw the same girl and the little girl remembered her name and everything. I think Children’s will be a great place for me to volunteer long term. After this class and the semester are over, the leader of the orientation was telling us we can take a leave of absence and return in the fall when we come back to school. Hopefully this will work out and I will be able to volunteer here for as long as I am going to school at the U. Next year I will definitely be bringing a car!!