Volunteering - Day 2

Today was my second day volunteering at CPMC and things have ramped up a bit, and I have a funny story. I showed up at 9 am sharp ready to serve. I clocked in and made my way up to the 4th floor nursing unit. I immediately found the charge nurse, introduced myself, and stated the amount of time that I would be volunteering today. She was nice (not as eager as I was) and so I went about my way. About 15 minutes later, I realized that I was in the wrong section of the 4th floor. I was in the south nursing unit and I should have been in the north. Maybe you had to be there.... clearly I was not ALL there.

Needless to say, I made it to the appropriate nursing unit and began my duties. Today has made me realize something special. I am so thankful for my past work experience because it taught me how to be a self starter. It's imperative that you be a "go getter" in both environments, volunteering and paid slavery. Both require that you keep yourself busy, know how to ask for work when you don't have any, look busy when you aren't, and most importantly, be proactive with a "yes man" attitude. So at this time, I'd like to thank PwC, for running me into the ground so I can suceed in environments where there is no supervision and the expectation that you know what and how to do things you've never been exposed to before. I am not saying the hospital is like that (at least in my ideal mind/world it isn't - don't ruin the dream for me now people), although I am sure at some level that expectation is there as well. But I was shocked, no one even tells a VOLUNTEER what to do and no one is in charge of a volunteer. So, you sorta just find work for yourself, which I am perfectly ok with. So today, I had Gina stamp patient blue cards again for each nursing pod, organized some files, run down to the kitchen to get a patient a soda, and had her do something with some linens. She knows it doesn't sound like a lot, but the three hours went by pretty quick and I think she felt pretty good, so mission accomplished.

It's sad though, while I was working at one of the nursing stations, a 92-year-old Russian speaking woman (no english) was screaming her head off, she was so scared and lost and her poor son, he didn't know what to do for her. When I showed up earlier in the morning, her son was talking to the doctors trying to understand what was wrong with her and why she was seeing things and yelling. The doctors were very helpful which was nice to see but again, it makes you just appreciate what you have and not worry about the things you think you don't have.

After volunteering, I caught the 1 bus to downtown and met Brett for Pho in China town. It was the first time I have had Pho before, it makes you feel so warm and good inside. As Brett and I were eating, I stopped and just told him how blessed we are to be able to just be. That we need to be so thankful for and cherish the simple moments in our lives and if we're lucky enough, someday we'll be 92 and our son will be by our bedside making sure we're ok.