What volunteer work do you do?

[spacecowgirl]

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I know we're all an altruistic bunch, so tell me - where do you volunteer? Especially those of you in pharm school already, it might give some pre-pharms some good ideas 🙂


I volunteer through ASP at a free med clinic and did immunizations this year.

I also volunteer at a wildlife center that rehabilitates injured and orphaned animals (obviously not part of pharmacy school - although we do administer the occasional bird or small mammal pharmaceutical!).

 

[Glycerin]

I know we're all an altruistic bunch, so tell me - where do you volunteer? Especially those of you in pharm school already, it might give some pre-pharms some good ideas 🙂


I volunteer through ASP at a free med clinic and did immunizations this year.

I also volunteer at a wildlife center that rehabilitates injured and orphaned animals (obviously not part of pharmacy school - although we do administer the occasional bird or small mammal pharmaceutical!).

I'm a volunteer at the local humane society, although I haven't actually volunteered in quite some time. I'm still registered as one, and this summer I will be spending more time there.

Also, I was a chatroom host online for almost a year.

I volunteered one day at the free clinic here in town, and man, was it scary! I just felt very uncomfortable there, and after my 3 hours were up, I left and never went back.

 

[ultracet]

I volunteered a lot in undergrad with different organizations such as big brothers big sisters, clothing banks, etc.

In pharmacy school I am an officer in many organizations and that is where my community service comes in.
I don't do any volunteering on my own anymore. There is simply not enough time.

 

[sunkiki486]

Every year I do a bunch of random volunteering work (usually a once or twice-a-year thing)-- sorting out donations at Goodwill and at food banks, removing invasing plants at parks, community clean-ups, etc etc.

On a normal basis, however, I volunteer at an outpatient pharmacy at a hospital and also as a patient-transporter at another hospital. 🙂

 

[sarahjth]

I'm a pre-pharmacy major.. but I've done a lot of volunteer work at nursing homes, elderly events *like ice cream socials, etc*, within the church.. and the big booster.. EMT for an ambulance! If you don't have time to volunteer to an ambulance because of the load, stress, children, etc. I recommend volunteering with an EMT/EMS to help with bookwork and even driving.. If anyone lives in the Peoria, IL area.. I would be honored to help you get a volunteering job with my local ambulance. We are in need of more helpers...

 

[pharmel]

I have volunteered with Literacy Volunteers (teaching adults to read) and with County Health Department giving free immunizations to children. Both experiences were with the county. I have a friend who is bilingual who received $10 gift certificates to a grocery store for her time helping with the immunizations. It was still considered "volunteering" because there was no cash compensation. Score!

 

[LabBrat04]

I noticed that a lot of you have volunteering experience other than traditional pharmacy stuff... Do pharm schools want you to have a lot of pharmacy volunteering experience, or just a lot of volunteering in general? What is the typical amount of pharmacy exposure most people have before applying to pharm school?

 

[spacecowgirl]

I noticed that a lot of you have volunteering experience other than traditional pharmacy stuff... Do pharm schools want you to have a lot of pharmacy volunteering experience, or just a lot of volunteering in general? What is the typical amount of pharmacy exposure most people have before applying to pharm school?

I have no doubt that volunteer work of any type looks good on a resume, however, I would hope you volunteer because you want to, not just to look good on paper 😉 Some schools look solely at GPA and PCAT, some don't. I volunteer because it feels good to do something good.

 

[Glycerin]

I noticed that a lot of you have volunteering experience other than traditional pharmacy stuff... Do pharm schools want you to have a lot of pharmacy volunteering experience, or just a lot of volunteering in general? What is the typical amount of pharmacy exposure most people have before applying to pharm school?

I would hope that any volunteer work is acceptable. I volunteer in areas other than pharmacy, because I'm already a pharmacy tech full-time with many years of experience in many fields of pharmacy. For me, I think it would be a bit redundant if I were to volunteer in a pharmacy. 🙂

 

[LabBrat04]

I was just asking because I love volunteering in the Pediatric ward 😍 I really like volunteering, but unfortunately I have more non-pharm volunteering than pharm-related experience... guess that's something I can work on over the summer...

 

[spacecowgirl]

LabBrat - I think that sounds like great volunteer experience! Good for you 🙂 Do what you love, like I said. Pharmacy work experience is helpful if you can do that, even if it's shadowing someone for a few weeks.

 

[Roxicet]

I volunteered one day at the free clinic here in town, and man, was it scary! I just felt very uncomfortable there, and after my 3 hours were up, I left and never went back.

I also volunteer at a free clinic. My second time there, the director looked at me in surprise and said "You came back!" I've been going there for over a year, and I'll really miss it when I leave soon. 🙁

here's what I do:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=99905

 

[djbacklash]

I volunteered 2-3x a week for four years at a center, distributing food and clothing to non-english-speaking mexican (during the week) and asian (during the weekend) immigrant families. Also did a bunch of other community service events but this was the one thing I did consistently for a long period of time.