Officially a volunteer!

Hello!
Well, the last time I posted I was hoping to volunteer at El Centro de Corazon but I never really heard back from them. I was able to send in my application but they never responded and I tried calling and could never really speak to anyone who could point me in any particular direction but, there was no need to panic because I had also applied to the San Jose Clinic and Samantha was very prompt in responding and very accommodating with scheduling. Yesterday, I along with Maria and Yvonne had orientation there. Upon arriving to the clinic I was very pleased with it. I had never been to that particular clinic before but the overall appearance was very welcoming and clean. We all had a, well, "interesting" encounter with the young man who was working at the front desk that gave us something to giggle about later :). We then met up with Samantha who gave us more paperwork to fill out which included the usual background check and confidentiality agreements. She also made us watch an OSHA training video which again provided us with a few laughs. It reminded me of the lab safety video we had to watch before chemistry labs. She then returned and told us a little more about the clinic and the services they offered. I was also very impressed with the number of services and specialties they had. I figured it would be just a primary care facility but much to my surprise there is also a dental clinic, dermatology, cardiology, podiatry, endocrinology and many more specialty services. She also went into further detail as to what each of us would be doing, and I must say I am VERY excited about my assignment. I will be going in on Thursday mornings (before class from 8:30-10:30 am) and I was assigned to a physician whom I will be translating for since we were told the majority of their patients speak very little English. She told me this particular physician is a retired surgeon who now volunteers in their internal medicine department. This is exactly what I wanted to be doing and I am thrilled to have this opportunity. She also mentioned being able to shadow a physician in our area of interest when we have completed our mandatory hours which again is very kind of this clinic and I am personally very grateful. I begin volunteering next Thursday (the 15th) and I look forward to it!

Welcome

Hello, well I am new to the blogging world so please bear with me. Though I have not officially begun volunteering, I have contacted just about every clinic listed to make sure I was able to volunteer somewhere. The clinic I was really interested in was El Centro de Corazon since this was a predominantly Hispanic clinic and I was hoping not only to brush up on my Spanish medical terminology, but also be a medium of information for the patients because I know how hard it is for Spanish-only speakers (and many with English as a second language) to communicate and especially understand anything not in their language. (The only bad thing was that when I emailed the contact person, she had an auto-reply message saying she would be out of town until Sept 8.) In my past volunteering experiences, I have seen many physicians speak to their patients as if they were also doctors leaving the patient more scared than when they initially came in so I am hoping that wherever I end up volunteering I can help people understand what exactly is going on. Yet, I also understand that patient interaction is not always possible and therefore I am willing to help any way I can. It's amazing the services these clinics offer and to be a part of something greater than myself and to help those who truly need help is a great opportunity. I have volunteered in hospitals but not in an under-served clinic so I am excited to get to experience the whole array of medical scenes and opportunities out there. I am also hoping to become more open- minded and understanding to different situations and learn to empathize with people of all different backgrounds. I'm hoping that in the long run, this experience will make me a more well rounded person and hopefully one day a better physician.