Students’ Views

I love the fact that you can search for almost anything on the Internet today. Just type a key word in a search engine and off you go! Towards the end of the summer I was trying to find some opportunities to do some volunteering at a hospital in the Austin area once school began. I tried calling some hospitals prior to school letting out for the summer, but it seemed that everyone was looking for resident students finishing medical school. Luckily, I think I typed in just the right words one day and came about a wonderful opportunity at a Children’s Hospital in Austin. They were looking specifically for college volunteers for the semester– which was perfect!

I decided to apply at the last minute even though the applications were due in almost a week. The majority of the time, volunteers who apply early get their location of choice within the hospital. I was really eager to work in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, but I figured that my chances were minimal considering when they would receive my application. After sending in my application, I received a letter from them within about 3 weeks stating that I was now a volunteer at their hospital and I only had to complete a training and orientation session before starting in August. I was thrilled (and still anxious) to find out what my assigned unit would be. The drive from Georgetown to the hospital is not extremely hectic, especially considering Austin traffic. About 20-25 minutes, of which I was perfectly content.

After completing the remaining of my requirements, I discovered that I would be working in the Intermediate Care Unit instead of my initial preference. I was not disappointed by the outcome because in both cases I knew that I was bound to learn a lot about the routine of Nursing Units. I have been working at the hospital now for about 2 months and it is absolutely wonderful. I am able to stock up medical supplies ranging from your typical 10 cc syringe to a slew of parts necessary for Electrocardiogram readings. I had to learn to memorize about 6 different codes for every room in the nursing unit. Each code corresponds to the specific room in any nursing unit you are in within the hospital. For example, one room is designed for dirty sheets, towels, etc. Another is specifically for medical equipment (aka “The Guts Room�), nicknamed by the nurses. The chaos that often comes about in the units is due to increasing patients and the discharge of others. It can become extremely confusing for the nurses and therefore they are thankful to have volunteers to turn to whenever they need us.

One of my best days at the hospital so far started off to be the worst, just as I was arriving to my unit. I hopped inside of the elevator and all of a sudden the doors started to shake. I knew that could not be good and decided to try to open it by pushing the button to get out and just take the stairs. However, that did not work out to my advantage at all, considering the fact that the elevator was not budging I decided to stop incessantly pushing the button. I was alone in an elevator with no phone and quite frankly scared out of my mind! I decided to pray that the phone in the emergency box would work and thank goodness it did. I pressed the button for service and I immediately got an answer from someone, wherein they stated that I would be getting some help in a few minutes. About 15 minutes passed when I heard a group of people banging on my elevator door. It only took them a few tries to finally pry open the door with some tools they brought along with them.

As I was allowed to leave the elevator I realized how late I was for work, but I explained to my Head Nurse the situation and she understood and laughed for a bit. I did my usual routine of stocking supplies, talking with parents and visiting some of the children. I was able to spend some time with one 10 year old girl for the day. We played numerous amounts of games and she even painted a picture for me. I really enjoyed the time I got to spend with her. Just being by her side for a few hours let me see the drive in her eyes. Even though she was in the hospital for some time now, often times not seeing her family for days, she was still full of life and confident that she would continue to get better. She told me about her dog and little sister and insisted that I stay with her for the entire day. She didn’t understand why I couldn’t be her Head Nurse for the evening instead of my boss! It was a great day and made me realize more than ever how much I love working with kids and the dream that I have of making an impact in the lives of others. Even if it just seems like a simple game of Connect Four, it is making someone happy and that is the goal.