Saturday, April 24

I volunteered for the third time this Saturday. When I got there they found me a job to do almost immediately, which was a change from the usual so I was happy. The job was putting together pamphlets for the patients of the Emergency Center at Ben Taub, so naturally I looked at what the pamphlets were as I put them together. The pamphlets contained a sheet with patient rights, and another one that had 5 easy ways to prevent infection which I thought was a great idea. This was also a great opportunity to talk to one of my fellow volunteers as he was also putting the pamphlets together. He has led a very interesting life, he was born in Cambodia and his family moved here when he was very young, he has 7 siblings and since the family has moved here they have not had much money. He has a great outlook on life, and God, and it amazes me that even though he has been in the situation he has been in that he still volunteers. This week I learned that you don't always need to interact with the patients at the hospital to get a valuable lesson. I didn't think I would have such an enriching experience since I wasn't going to be talking to patients but this was my best volunteer shift yet.

2nd Saturday in the EC

On Saturday I went to the Emergency Center at Ben Taub for my second volunteer shift. Again there wasn't much to do, like last week (This may have something to do with 7 volunteers were there for a 2 volunteer shift coupled with the fact that weekends are slow). It was okay though, I did help take blood pressure and temperature, and I actually was able to help this week as opposed to watching. This week I was helping a nurse as opposed to a technician, and I talked to her about what the commonly see in the EC as pertaining to my pamphlet. She said they get a lot of psych cases as well as people complaining of various aches and pains. I was glad to help this week but I wish I were available at a time when the EC had more need for volunteers.

Ben Taub Emergency Center

I have finally started volunteering, and instead of volunteering at Casa de Amigos as I had originally planned, I am volunteering at the Emergency Center at Ben Taub Hospital. So it was my first day and I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. When I got there I signed in as I was told to do and went to the Emergency Center. Once I was in the emergency center I didn't know where to go but one of the other volunteers told me to sit down and help one of the employees with checking people in (This included taking putting people's info into the computer, checking their blood pressure and temperature, asking them why they had come to the hospital and if they were diabetic giving them a finger prick blood test). This was a good observation experience for me but that was about all it was as I didn't actually get to do much besides keep the check-in worker company. The worker said, however, that usually there is much more for the volunteers to do so hopefully next week I will be more helpful.