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Giving Through Volunteering

Name: Taylor Wilson
From: Mountain Home, Idaho
Votes: 0


Giving
Through Volunteering

Over
the past two summers, I’ve been volunteering at St. Luke’s
Hospital in Elmore County. The summer of 2017 I volunteered in the
Long-Term Care Unit, and the summer of 2018 I volunteered as a
Registration Guide. I chose to volunteer here because I saw it as an
excellent opportunity to expand my knowledge of the medical field.
There are so many different possibilities in the medical field, and I
wanted to know what it’d be like in a hospital setting. I
volunteered for 14.75 hours during the first summer and 26.98 hours
during the second.

As
a Long-Term Care volunteer, I helped the workers move those who
needed to be moved, brought patients coffee, set up games, read to
the patients and overall help anyone who needed it. As a Registration
Guide, I helped patients find where they needed to go for their
appointment. Both volunteer experiences were hard for me at first.
I’m somewhat shy when it comes to using my knowledge to help
others. This is also why it’s so hard for me to find a specific job
in the medical field. I always am afraid I’ll say the wrong thing
or guide a patient to the wrong place. However, I learned to move
past that fear and be more confident in my choices. I also learned to
ask questions if I want to make sure I have the information right.

I
am thrilled to have been able to have such a wonderful experience
volunteering. Not only was I able to help myself gain confidence, but
I was also able to help the patients and workers. Without volunteers,
the patients ask the workers to guide them to the room they need to
be in, and then the workers have to show them where to
go,
resulting in a longer wait for other patients that need to be helped
.
I
learned a lot from this experience. I learned not only to be more
confident in my choices and actions but also to try new things. There
are so many valuable things I learned during these two summers. It
can’t be shown in less than 500 words, but I will always remember
the experiences.

Looking
towards the future, I see the activities I’ve done as
“forward-looking.” I see them helping in my future plans and
guiding me towards the future I desire. They give me a visualization
of what my future career could consist of, and the knowledge to
handle certain situations. I want to use what I learned during the
months of volunteering and become someone that can help others remain
healthy and happy. I want to help others during my life. If I were to
come back years later, I know my volunteer activities would have made
a difference. They helped me shape my career path. They gave me the
knowledge I needed to push forward and not be afraid.