Volunteens At Work
A hospital in my area recently concluded its summer Volunteen Program. Volunteens volunteer their time during the summer by helping care for sick patients at the hospital. Some are escorters who work in central admissions, where the goal is to escort every patient from the hospital, or make sure they arrive to their destination. Doing this helps the patients, who have much more on their minds. Others make their presence known by doing simple things like watering patients' flowers.
Volunteens are male or female high school students who hope to learn more about working with other people, and really enjoy doing volunteer work. This year, twenty-six local high school students worked within the program.
The Volunteen Program helped one student with shyness; he heard about the program from his sister, also a volunteen. This was his second year in the program, and he plans on coming back next summer. Another student said she enjoyed working at the hospital because she hopes to go into the medical field after college.
The Director of Volunteer Services says most volunteens do enter the medical field; others are not sure what they want to do and see the program as a good opportunity to learn how to make an informed decision in that respect. Former volunteens (a.k.a. candy stripers) have come back to work at this hospital after completing their educational ambitions. They give the hospital credit for their success along the way.
This is definitely great work from the local high school students in the community; I take my hat off to them. What a reminder these students are to me that helping people is a good thing to do.
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