Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center
Currently I am a volunteer on the Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) floor at CCHMC. I have volunteered on this floor for two and half years, and I have had the privilege of helping a lot of children. As a volunteer on the BMT floor I am responsible for visiting the kids in their rooms for play time, to check their needs and to give their parents a break for food or anything else they may need. Sometimes I enter a room and the child may be asleep or may nor need anything at the moment, but there is always another room with another patient waiting for someone to come spend time with them.
During spring quarter 2012 I was a volunteer in the Outpatient Surgery Center, at that site I was responsible for entertaining the patients and their siblings while they waited to be seen for their appointment. I would bring a cart of toys, coloring pages and games for the kids so that I could play and interact with these children and hopefully brighten their experience at CCHMC.
Both experiences have been extremely rewarding, not only because of the hospital exposure I have received but because of the fun I have had in helping these children. The loving and caring environment that has been set up for these kids has made it one of the greatest volunteer opportunities I can imagine. I feel that I am useful at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center, and that I do make a difference in the patients that I am fortunate enough to interact with. Not only that, but being at CCHMC with these kids has helped me learn and grow in ways I was never expecting.
During spring quarter 2012 I was a volunteer in the Outpatient Surgery Center, at that site I was responsible for entertaining the patients and their siblings while they waited to be seen for their appointment. I would bring a cart of toys, coloring pages and games for the kids so that I could play and interact with these children and hopefully brighten their experience at CCHMC.
Both experiences have been extremely rewarding, not only because of the hospital exposure I have received but because of the fun I have had in helping these children. The loving and caring environment that has been set up for these kids has made it one of the greatest volunteer opportunities I can imagine. I feel that I am useful at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center, and that I do make a difference in the patients that I am fortunate enough to interact with. Not only that, but being at CCHMC with these kids has helped me learn and grow in ways I was never expecting.
Muscular Dystrophy Association Summer Camp 2013 and 2014
“I can’t sleep, I’m afraid I’m gonna fall out of bed” said Joey.
“Would it help if I slept on the floor by you? I’ll make sure you don’t fall.” Joey nodded his head, and so I grabbed my pillow and laid on the floor next to his bed. This was the first of several challenging but rewarding nights. I was Joey’s counselor that week at the Muscular Dystrophy Association summer camp, and I was determined to help him have a great time.
On another difficult night, all activities were stopped by a tornado warning. I kept Joey calm by setting up a pretend “radio” for us to talk through. We talked with our “radios” for the rest of the week while we went around camp pretending to be lifeguards and truck drivers. To understand Joey’s needs I needed patience, empathy, and creativity, especially during several stressful situations. I have since carried these qualities forward and improved how I work with others, including teammates, patients, and the kids that I coach in gymnastics. During camp I focused on Joey’s needs, and though exhausted at times, we had fun. We were a great team, and with Joey I experienced the satisfaction that comes from helping others. Thanks to my hard work with Joey both summers, I was voted Best Male Counselor of the year both years!
Joey has graduated from MDA summer camp, but there are always more kids who need a little help to have fun at camp. Even though I will soon be off to medical school, potentially out of state, I hope to continue to help with the MDA summer camp each summer that I can.
“Would it help if I slept on the floor by you? I’ll make sure you don’t fall.” Joey nodded his head, and so I grabbed my pillow and laid on the floor next to his bed. This was the first of several challenging but rewarding nights. I was Joey’s counselor that week at the Muscular Dystrophy Association summer camp, and I was determined to help him have a great time.
On another difficult night, all activities were stopped by a tornado warning. I kept Joey calm by setting up a pretend “radio” for us to talk through. We talked with our “radios” for the rest of the week while we went around camp pretending to be lifeguards and truck drivers. To understand Joey’s needs I needed patience, empathy, and creativity, especially during several stressful situations. I have since carried these qualities forward and improved how I work with others, including teammates, patients, and the kids that I coach in gymnastics. During camp I focused on Joey’s needs, and though exhausted at times, we had fun. We were a great team, and with Joey I experienced the satisfaction that comes from helping others. Thanks to my hard work with Joey both summers, I was voted Best Male Counselor of the year both years!
Joey has graduated from MDA summer camp, but there are always more kids who need a little help to have fun at camp. Even though I will soon be off to medical school, potentially out of state, I hope to continue to help with the MDA summer camp each summer that I can.
Relay for Life
During my first year at UC, one of the seniors on the gymnastics team suggested making a team for the annual Colleges Against Cancer event, Relay for Life. Having no idea what Relay was, I looked into what it was about and became really interested in helping fight cancer with Colleges Against Cancer and Relay for Life. I gathered a team together during my freshmen and sophomore year. After my sophomore year, I decided to join Colleges Against Cancer so that I could get involved with planning and running Relay for Life during my junior and senior year. This year I helped plan for the event and did odd jobs while the event was taking place to keep Relay running strong.
OrthoNeuro Physical Therapy Office
During the summer of 2012 between my Freshmen and Sophomore year of college, I was still in search of definite evidence that would tell me whether or not I wanted to go to graduate school to become a physical therapist or a doctor. I realized about halfway through my Freshmen year that the only way to find out which career path I was leaning towards was to start shadowing, volunteering and researching both options so that I could make the best decision. For physical therapy, I realized that volunteering in a physical therapy office somewhere would be a great way to get some exposure to what a physical therapy actually does. After having surgery and going through physical therapy early during 2011, I had a contact, my physical therapist at a nearby location of OrthoNeuro. OrthoNeuro is a medical company specializing in the care, treatment and rehabilitation of orthopedic and neurological injuries. Before my physical therapy ended, my therapist told me to come back when it came time to start shadowing so I was able to contact him about volunteering there over the summer.
As a volunteer, I came once a week for around 5 hours to help where I could. Often I cleaned off tables and equipment, folded laundry and occasionally was allowed to set patients up on the ice machines after their therapy sessions. On top of that, I was always allowed to shadow the physical therapists and physical therapy assistants in the office. From observing, I was able to gain a really good idea of what life as a physical therapist would be like and I really was able to enjoy working with the therapists and patients at OrthoNeuro. Outside of my volunteer time, my therapist gave me current articles from the Journal of Orthopedic Sports Medicine to read so that I could read and gain knowledge about various surgical procedures, rehabilitation techniques and even different injuries that are commonly seen in a PT office.
My time at OrthoNeuro was time well spent. My therapist even helped me set up a time to observe several orthopedic surgeries performed by one of OrthoNeuro's own surgeons! I was able to see a side of treatment that I only knew from the patient's perspective and I learned a great deal from the observations I made and the explanations about procedure and practice that my therapist frequently gave me. To any students trying to choose a career in health care, I would recommend starting to figure out where you may want to go early so that you can start shadowing and observing as much as possible.
As a volunteer, I came once a week for around 5 hours to help where I could. Often I cleaned off tables and equipment, folded laundry and occasionally was allowed to set patients up on the ice machines after their therapy sessions. On top of that, I was always allowed to shadow the physical therapists and physical therapy assistants in the office. From observing, I was able to gain a really good idea of what life as a physical therapist would be like and I really was able to enjoy working with the therapists and patients at OrthoNeuro. Outside of my volunteer time, my therapist gave me current articles from the Journal of Orthopedic Sports Medicine to read so that I could read and gain knowledge about various surgical procedures, rehabilitation techniques and even different injuries that are commonly seen in a PT office.
My time at OrthoNeuro was time well spent. My therapist even helped me set up a time to observe several orthopedic surgeries performed by one of OrthoNeuro's own surgeons! I was able to see a side of treatment that I only knew from the patient's perspective and I learned a great deal from the observations I made and the explanations about procedure and practice that my therapist frequently gave me. To any students trying to choose a career in health care, I would recommend starting to figure out where you may want to go early so that you can start shadowing and observing as much as possible.