Community Service #3

4/11/12 Wednesday 4-8pm This was my 3rd day volunteering at Condell Hospital. I worked with Barb today. Today, alot of interesting things happened. They weren't good things, they were serious. When I first arrived at the hospital, things were a bit slow at the beginning, but today the hospital was busier than ever. One patient had over 30 different visitors. This patient had been severely injured in a motorcycle accident. Since I've been working here for a few days, im used to what I have to do. When visitors come in to see a patient in, for example, the ICU, I treat them as any other visitor coming to see another patient. But to them, they have a completely different outlook on that. Their thinking would be that its someone extremely important to them. I feel like working at a hospital's front desk makes it harder to realize what visitors are really there for. To me it feels like its just a job, and it probably feels like that for the doctors and the people that actually work there. I feel like I learned that I need to be more aware that its not just a job, there are people that are injured and ill everyday and it's serious. While sitting at the desk, a man came in. This man had been through a lot. He was telling us that he had just lost his wife to breast cancer a few days ago.  When working at the front desk, people really open up to you about their situations. His wife passed away at the hospital and he wanted to know if her body was still there to arrange for her funeral. When he was telling us this, it was so sad I had tears in my eyes. Hearing things like this makes this job feel more personal and it feels like less of a job when you are talking to someone and helping them. When my shift was over, I went home thinking how lucky I am that my family members are healthy and safe, and I was grateful for that. I love volunteering at the hospital, and i plan on continuing my work there.