Too late too volunteer for winter break?

[voxx]

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Hi,

I would greatly appreciate some advice on volunteering over winter break. I just finished exams for the semester. Is it too late to volunteer at a hospital over my winter vacation? How far in advance do you have apply?

Also are there any other areas that I could volunteer at on such short notice?

Thank you very much!

 

[Dr JPH]

voxx:

I am sure that you will be able to find plenty of places to volunteer, especially during the winter months.

Volunteering does not need to be at a hospital. It can be at a clinic, ambulance service, hospice, soup kitchen, school, homeless shelter, or anywhere.

Do not limit yourself to what you believe will "look good" on an application.

There are pelnty of resources out there that remain untapped by pre-meds. It only takes a few insightful people to catch on.

Call some of the above mentioned places and see what they have to offer you!

Best of luck to you!



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Joshua Paul Hazelton, CNA, EMT-B
[email protected]
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (2002)
"D.O. Wannabe"

 

[kimberlicox]

JP's given some excellent advice, and saved me from breaking out my "hospice, AIDS clinic, nursing home" drum again!

Depending on the source, some places will require a "training" period and a time committment from their volunteers. However, if you front up willing to do anything, there are lots of things which don't require training. If you have a valid driver's license for example, you could volunteer to drive the sick and shut in to their doctor's appointments or run errands for them, you could just visit. Sounds simple, but you learn a lot about humanity just from listening and believe me (if this old lady can offer some advice), in a few years you will not have the time generally to listen to old war stories. So enjoy it while you can.

The only way to know if its "too late" is to call and ask and if the first place on the list says "no" then ask if they have any suggestions. be persistent, interested, dedicated and fun to have around and I'm sure you'll find what you seek.

Best of luck!

 

[AUDREYHEPBURNFAN]

It really depends where you want to volunteer and what type of volunteer work you are looking for. If you want to volunteer in a hospital setting, then perhaps you might be out of luck. I am not sure how hospitals work where you live, but I know at UCSF, volunteering requires training and orientation sessions. In addition, you need ample time to get your medical clearance like your hep B vaccine, TB test, etc. It also depends what department you are interested in and whether the hospital has openings in the department you are interested in. I started by calling the volunteer office at UCSF and at the time, there were no positions available in the emergency department so I tried again the following semester. So don't be discouraged if you can't find the position you want the first time around....just keep being persistent. I don't think you necessarily have to volunteer in a hospital setting....find something you enjoy. I also work with inner city kids at risk and I recently helped a kid get out of a gang and at times, I find my volunteer experience with inner city kids much more rewarding than doing clinical research and volunteering at UCSF. My two cents worth: find something you are passionate about and you'll have something to talk about during your med school interviews. Good luck! =)

 

[alceria]

I called about 15 local hospitals about two weeks ago asking about volunteer work - not for break, but for next semester. Every place where I actually was able to talk to someone - I got lots of answering machines - made it clear that there was a minimum time requirement. Most seemed to require at least 4 hours a week, for a miniumun of 6 months. Others had a miniumum requirement that you would complete 50 hours. You most likely will have to go to an orientation as well. I talked to one hospital that wanted a letter of recommendation and an interview. The hospital I decided to volunteer at (Detroit Receiving) is making me go to two orientations, one for new volunteers and one for the ER. (My ER one is tomorrow, but if it keeps snowing, I might be waiting to go to the one in January!)

So while it may be possible for you to volunteer in a hospital, I'm going to guess that it probably won't be possible, unless you plan on commiting some time after the break. They might not even have any orientation sessions until after the holidays so you wouldn't be able to start during the break anyway. And like someone else said, you have to go through the health screening as well, and wait for the results.

If the hospital volunteering doesn't pan out, maybe you could find some other one-time opportunities to volunteer. With the holidays coming on, I'm sure there are a bunch of charitable events going on where you live, like Toys for Tots, or a Coat Drive, or maybe odd jobs in a homeless shelter or working in a soup kitchen for a day. These are things that you most likely wouldn't have to make a major time commitment to, and they probably need a lot of help right around now. Plus it will look great to adcoms and be a rewarding experience for you. I've heard that adcoms like to see both a history of volunteering at one place over time, and one-day stints. If you are determined to do something, I'm sure you can find somewhere to volunteer. I would start making calls as soon as possible though. You might also want to check out helping.org's volunteer search which can help you find local places that need help. You can search for both ongoing and one-time jobs, and you can choose how far away you are willing to drive, etc. Hope this helps.

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^v^

 

[Pathologist]

I recommend that you check into volunteering at some nursing homes. Many times they don't have enough volunteers (I work at a nursing home). You can help out with the activities department, you can read to them, or just talk to them. I love working with them. Many of them don't have family, or if they do, they don't come to visit. Probably many could use help at Christmas time. A lot of the residents could be feeling down at the holidays and need some cheering up

 

[B-Don]

Friend:

Two weeks ago I approached the volunteer services department in our University Hospital's ER. I just received 4 hours a week and it has been fantastic. I know this is an isolated experience but if it was this easy for me, you should have no problem with it I assume. Anyway, hope this was helpful...over...

:B

 

[voxx]

Thank you very much for all your help. I have a much better understanding of different volunteer activities now.