What was your most rewarding volunteer experience?

[tri99]

Just wanted to get a feel for what people thought their most rewarding volunteer experience was and why? Not asking for purposes of "which looked the best on my application" but what experience really sticks out in your mind.

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[LoveBeingHuman:)]

Personally, it was working retail. Of all the minimum wage jobs I can think of, retail is one of the main ones that many people actually use to make a living out of. I was doing it just as a college job to make some extra cash. So finally being able to understand how many people make a living on such an emotionally stressful job made me admire them even more.

 

[FlavivirusProtease]

Personally, it was working retail. Of all the minimum wage jobs I can think of, retail is one of the main ones that many people actually use to make a living out of. I was doing it just as a college job to make some extra cash. So finally being able to understand how many people make a living on such an emotionally stressful job made me admire them even more.

Most rewarding volunteer experience...

Working retail...

I knew the people at the stores I shopped at weren’t paid a livable wage, but I didn’t think it was that bad.

Just kidding around.

In all seriousness, mine was working in a fitness/rehabilitation clinic for people who had disabilities. I got to work 1 on 1 with a person who was living with cerebral palsy 3 times a week, and it was great to see his progress as he slowly regained the ability to walk on crutches from being wheelchair only.

 

[RTC19]

Hospice. Loved it.

 

[bubba21]

Spanish interpreter at a free clinic, helping those with financial and language barriers access care they otherwise would not have gotten

 

[RNtoMD87]

Teaching diabetes prevention. I love it because most of them WANT to learn and improve their health. Feels good working with people who want to improve. Much better than fighting with my patients over what they can and cant eat, while injecting them with 80 lantus BID and 20 of insulin with each meal plus a tight sliding scale.

 

[calivianya]

It's hard for me to find any of my volunteering meaningful. That's something I've been struggling with; I think I'm just a major cynic at this point.

Probably the "most meaningful" is the one I'm doing right now - volunteering at a free pharmacy. It blows my mind when I check people out and the dollar values of their medicines goes across my screen. The patients never see the numbers, but dang, some of them are getting upwards of $3k+ in prescriptions every month... it's unbelievable that it costs that much to get medicine to survive. I'm talking basic stuff like insulin, antihypertensives, anticoagulants for the a-fib people, etc. It's awful how much prescriptions cost.

No wonder our healthcare costs are so high - we have to hospitalize people for DKA because they couldn't pay for their insulin, for hypertensive crises because they can't pay for their blood pressure meds. It's really self defeating for the government to pay five figures to hospitalize someone when providing them with a $400 bottle of insulin or $100 worth of blood pressure meds would have kept them out of the hospital in the first place.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Worse yet, a lot of people even when their medications are paid for fail to consistently fill the prescriptions.

The ER is basically the biggest primary provider ever.

 

[stickgirl390]

I volunteered for a summer reading camp for disadvantages students preK-5. It filled my heart to see how excited the kids got when I walked in the room each day. We had a lot of volunteers come and go, but myself and one other woman were the only two consistent volunteers. The kids really loved seeing a familiar face.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

direct impact: volunteer EMT

indirect impact: I volunteer as a Donate Life Ambassador to promote organ donation at various public events (an extended family member was a deceased donor). While the actual volunteer work tends to involve a lot of handing out free swag to people at health fairs, I've also had the opportunity to have really interesting and important conversations with people about the questions and fears that might be holding them back from registering as an organ donor, and sometimes convince them to register on the spot. I've also gotten to meet many recipients and other donor family members, hear their moving stories and see how big a difference organ donation makes.

Shameless plug - April is National Donate Life Month! Talk to your friends and family about organ donation!

 

[21Rush12]

Writing my own personal statement...those were the days!

 

[siliso]

Before med school - A peer support organization I was involved in as a peer counselor/leader for several years out of personal interest. Tangentially health related. It was La Leche League, so not a relevant option for most premeds.

In medical school - the student in free clinic. Slice of life exposure to social determinants of health and clinical experience too,and we managed to provide a needed service with limited resources to a population with limited resources.

 

[willow84]

I volunteered with an Arts in Medicine program. I absolutely loved it. I got to sit with patients while doing silly art projects to help take their mind off the hospital/their condition for awhile. It was really rewarding to connect with people on that level and just bring some fun and excitement to an otherwise crappy experience for them.

 

[DBC03]

I volunteered with a group that trained me to meet with individually with women in crisis each week to provide a non-judgmental listening ear. I LOVED the position - had to quit when the economy tanked. I now volunteer at a free pregnancy clinic and it's amazing. We meet people from all walks of life - everything from women who need a verification of pregnancy for medicaid to women who have been through trauma, including abuse and rape. I've learned a lot about communicating in a way to foster honesty and openness, and I've learned that you never know the situation someone is coming from when she walks in the door. I'm honestly going to be bummed when I move and have to quit.