Steadily Volunteering

This week I volunteered three hours at Legacy Clinic. I was particularly struck by the friendliness of the staff this week. Every person from the staff which I have come into contact with at the clinic has been very welcoming to me despite their very busy schedules. I think it takes a very special type of person to work in a clinic like Legacy. Many of the patients I have seen at the clinic are noticeably having a difficult time with chronic disease (particularly HIV), drug use, and/or financial trouble. By no means does every patient at the clinic have these issues, but I have noticed that the clinic has an open door to all of these groups of people. It is wonderful to see how much respect all patients receive at the clinic. When it comes to administration of medicine, the treatment should be available to all, and all who are receiving the treatment should be treated with the same dignity and respect. This desire for dignity, respect, and good treatment is one of the commonalities shared between all people. The witnessing of this type of care at Legacy Clinic is very inspiring and makes me proud to be a part of their service to the community.

First Week

This week I volunteered both Wednesday and Friday morning for an hour and a half. I am making my way through the 2008 x-rays, alphabetizing and cataloguing as I go. The Legacy clinic staff is very warm and welcoming. The clinic sees more patients than I had realized. I am there from 9:00-10:30am, and the waiting room had at least ten people in it both times I volunteered this week. The patients do not have to wait for long though because the clinic is so organized. The lab work and x-rays take place downstairs, the insurance and sign in table is at one wing, the pharmacy is in the other wing, while therapy is upstairs. While I have not spoken with patients directly about their experience at the clinic, the satisfaction seems to be very high judging by the attitude of those waiting in the lobby. As I catalogued this week, I realized the importance of my position to the overall success of the clinic. Namely, my efforts will supplement the organization of the clinic allowing for even greater patient care in a timely manner. Of course, my position is once again hanging by a thread since I received a TB skin test which showed up positive. X-rays were taken on Friday and the results should be in this week. Pray for no granulomas!! Not really too worried though, since I go through this everytime I get a TB skin test. They've always been false positives, but its always a little wierd during that time between the x-rays and the results. As far as I know, I'm still volunteering at Legacy and plan to be there this Wednesday and Friday mornings again.

Position Secured!!!

By the grace of God, I was able to secure my position at Legacy Clinic this week. The e-mail which was sent out by Legacy had me a little worried about the fate of my position, but the radiology technician with whom I will be volunteering was invaluable in helping me communicate with the right people in Human Resources. I will begin volunteering this week, and my first task entails alphabetizing and cataloguing chest x-rays from 2008!! Sounds like a great time. Definitely ready to get in there and get to work.

Offices, Interviews, and Paperwork

It seems that the application I dropped off at the clinic last week was misplaced, so I filled out a new one last Monday and delivered it directly to the Human Resources office. I was lucky enough to be offered an interview for the last available volunteer position at Legacy. Tuesday morning, I interviewed for the position. The position entails filing and cataloguing chest x-rays from 2008. I was interviewed by the x-ray technician at the clinic. I explained to her the parameters of the service learning project. She was very excited about the idea, and after speaking with Human Resources, I was offered the position that afternoon. While I am so excited that I received the position, I am having trouble scheduling an orientation time with Human Resources. Legacy Clinic requires all employees and volunteers to undergo an orientation of which a large component deals with privacy laws and confidentiality statements. The scheduled orientation times are during my classes which has presented somewhat of a problem. Human Resources said they would be happy to schedule an alternate time for me to complete the orientation, but they are currently in the process of moving offices and will be unable to schedule a time until sometime later this week. I spoke with the technician at Legacy and told her that I'm very eager to get started volunteering, so she is helping me by also staying on top of Human Resources. I was told that I would be contacted by Tuesday of this week with a time to complete the orientation. It is a little frustrating that there are so many hurdles to jump in order to start volunteering, but I do understand that the information I will be handling is of a sensitive nature so these things are necessary. At this point, all I can do is continue to check in with Human Resources. My position has been secured, so I am positive about the progess of the project. My goal for the next week is to complete the required orientation so that I can start working.