Volunteering

[ertraumashield]

Congrats! I'm going into my sophmore year of high school. I'm a clinical volunteer at a local hospital and I'm trained in first aid and CPR. . A lot of doctors told me I have a natural gift for medicine. (I've created a few med. inventions and can read my x-rays, but thats not the point.) Besides that I love to read medical text books and search the internet and read medical articles. I've also written a few medical papers and got to work with some of the best physicians in the world.
My advice to you is get trained in first and and CPR, read medical articles, and get to know doctors and talk with them. I wish you the best of luck!

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[MilkmanAl]

That sounds good too but how would I go about doing all this?

Send in your application! You might have issues getting a job if you're under 18, but you'll probably be able to at least get some sort of hospital-related work. Make sure you emphasize that you're interested in gaining relevant experience for a potential career in medicine whenever you can. You'll be surprised how enthusiastic people will be to help you. If volunteering is all you qualify for, do that to get a foot in the door.

For shadowing, find a local teaching hospital, and ask guest relations (or maybe HR) if they can arrange a shadowing opportunity for you. If that doesn't work, see if you have any family friends who are doctors or know doctors. Barring that, just find someone in a specialty you think you'd like to observe, and call him. Be brief and direct but friendly in explaining why you want to shadow. Be prepared to bend to his schedule because you're obviously not going to be the one calling the shots.

 

[xnfs93hy]

I have a question about special needs volunteer work.

I have been looking around in the phone book but have not come across any good companies where they let high school students do volunteer work. Then again, maybe I am just not looking hard enough.

You would think that in a state like NJ there would be opportunities out the butt, but unfortunately that is not the case here. I am actually having a VERY tough time finding special needs volunteer opportunities.

Are there any that anyone can think of? Because it seems to me that if you want to do something of this sort you need some kind of certification, whether it be working with physically handicapped children, children with autism, etc. Whatever the case may be, I just cannot find anything.

Any suggestions?
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[Depakote]

I have a question about special needs volunteer work.

I have been looking around in the phone book but have not come across any good companies where they let high school students do volunteer work. Then again, maybe I am just not looking hard enough.

You would think that in a state like NJ there would be opportunities out the butt, but unfortunately that is not the case here. I am actually having a VERY tough time finding special needs volunteer opportunities.

Are there any that anyone can think of? Because it seems to me that if you want to do something of this sort you need some kind of certification, whether it be working with physically handicapped children, children with autism, etc. Whatever the case may be, I just cannot find anything.

Any suggestions?
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I would probably try contacting individual centers rather than companies. Work on the local basis, google maps, phone book, asking around, etc.

Find a special needs home/center and call them to ask if they could use volunteers. I agree that opportunities must be out there, you just need to look the right way.

That said, you can't be picky. A lot of the major contact stuff probably does require certification, but that doesn't mean you can't help out around the place and get a lot of good indirect contact.

 

[xnfs93hy]

I would probably try contacting individual centers rather than companies. Work on the local basis, google maps, phone book, asking around, etc.

Find a special needs home/center and call them to ask if they could use volunteers. I agree that opportunities must be out there, you just need to look the right way.

That said, you can't be picky. A lot of the major contact stuff probably does require certification, but that doesn't mean you can't help out around the place and get a lot of good indirect contact.

That stinks. I will keep looking but I was hoping for some direct contact. I mean, I'm not a physician (yet) but I want to do SOMETHING. I don't just want to go an observe and get hours for doing some mindless task. I mean yeah, it will look great on my application but I don't want to be doing something for 4-5 that is stupid/mindless and just no fun at all.

I don't know what you mean by "picky" though, I mean, I am probably going to have to take what I can get.

 

[nerv12]

See your school guidance counselor and I'm sure she can arrange a volunteer position at a hospital. This is what I did last summer. Worked there as a doctor assistant for 1 month everyday excluding weekends. It is really a nice experience to talk to patients and see how the life of a doctor is.

 

[xnfs93hy]

See your school guidance counselor and I'm sure she can arrange a volunteer position at a hospital. This is what I did last summer. Worked there as a doctor assistant for 1 month everyday excluding weekends. It is really a nice experience to talk to patients and see how the life of a doctor is.

Tried it, no help at all, I took the initiative on my own and I am doing that right now...thanks for the help though.

 

[nerv12]

That's odd. Maybe you should take to your principle and maybe he can do something about it. Don't you have the "community involvement hours" that you need to complete in order to graduate from high school in your state? or something of that sort.

 

[xnfs93hy]

That's odd. Maybe you should take to your principle and maybe he can do something about it. Don't you have the "community involvement hours" that you need to complete in order to graduate from high school in your state? or something of that sort.

You need 10. I have over 100+.

 

[RemiJP]

Tried it, no help at all, I took the initiative on my own and I am doing that right now...thanks for the help though.

I had direct contact with kids with special needs when I volunteered at an early intervention center for the summer in my hometown. It was a lot of fun and the kids were adorable (mostly 12mo - 3 y/o). I would also recommend trying to contact your local branch of the Easter Seals or the Special Olympics - both are great organizations always in need of energetic volunteers. Also, take a look at www.idealist.org many non-profit orgs post volunteer requests here, and at the very least, you'd be able to get contact info for organizations that interest you.

There are lots of paid opportunities out there, too. Tutoring, respite care, and summer camps...