With all the blizzard-like conditions going ’round in the last several weeks, I got it into my head at some point that I need to spend more time involved in the community than I do at present. During the few days I was snowed in my house last month, I called down to the hospital closest to my home to see if they were in need of any local assistance such as food, water, help with paperwork, etc. You see, while most of us have the luxury of bunkering down during a storm (and, I dare say, enjoying the time away from a scheduled life for a while), those who work in urgent service industries (hospitals, energy companies, city workers, etc. ) stay hard at work to keep us warm and safe while we do. I found out that, during the most difficult bouts of weather, much of the medical staff in the hospital were stranded without food and transportation to get home, some of them sleeping at the hospital for several days. They were also in need of drivers (with trucks, vans, SUV’s) to pick up staff to come in and cover shifts and others who were willing to share their food or time.
I signed up to be an official hospital volunteer a little over a week ago. During my volunteer training the other day, the facilitator emphasized how dependent many hospitals are on volunteers, especially in emergency situations. Given that I’ll only be volunteering, at most, 3 or 4 hours of my time per week (I spend way more than that surfing the web in a day!), I felt assured that my small contribution would be useful and appreciated.
I haven’t been assigned to a department yet, but I’ll be sure to write more after I get started. This is sure to be an interesting experience!
