From May 16
Today I attended the St. Jude Auxiliary meeting where Dr. Merchant came to share about the new proton machine that is being built at St. Jude. Usually I am completely turned off by scientific topics. However, the impressive facts combined with its life-saving purpose had my attention from the beginning. Basically, this 3 story machine will provide more precise radiation treatment to patients. Rather than treating a broad area that includes healthy tissue with the cancer cells, the proton machine will specifically target the tumor. The positive implications from this will significantly lessen some of the side effects for patients. The amount of energy that it takes to execute this type of treatment is so much that the part of the building where the machine will be will be surrounded by 10-ft thick concrete walls. The accuracy, though, is within tenths of a millimeter. While everyday is eventful at St. Jude this was particularly exciting for me. To hear the statistics and see the plans for this new life-saving treatment center reminded me why there are several thousand people on the St. Jude campus everyday: "Finding Cures. Saving Lives." Patients and their families are blessed to have such an amazing place to come to for treatment and I have been blessed to make a small contribution. Even more so, I am excited that I heard the inside scoop on the massive hole in the ground that I drive past every day. One of my favorite things about this hospital is that there is always progress. There has been a 90% increase in the survival rates of some cancers, but until it's 100% for all of the catastrophic diseases treated at St. Jude, the work at will never stop.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Internally Excited
I have not posted any updates in quite a long time so here goes the rewind/fast-forward version:
The end of April was an especially exciting time for the Volunteer Services department at St. Jude. I had the privilege of writing an nomination for one of our Volunteens (summer program) to be Youth Volunteer of the Year. Even though I had not yet met her, it was easy to find out why she deserved the award. After reaching out to her teachers and volunteer supervisors, the Volunteer Coordinator worked with me to revise the nomination; I found it difficult to capture her service and heart for St. Jude into 3 short pages. I submitted the nomination and on April 18 I attended the Volunteer Mid-South Spirit of Giving Awards with our coordinators and director. The nominee, her parents, and her teacher were there as well. We were up against some tough competition, but I am excited to say that she won!!! Most of all I am so proud of her ( I have since gotten to know the nominee) and honored to be a part of her nomination. However, I have to admit, my competitive spirit was definitely satisfied as well. :)
The following week was the annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon that our department had been working on all semester. It went very well! There only a couple minor glitches and they were quickly fixed and easy to look past. We just filled the ballroom at the Marriott to capacity and all of those that attended had nothing but great things to say about the event. The memorabilia table turned out really well and the videos did, too. There was a brass quintet that entertained guests as they arrived and we featured a patient who sang and played the guitar during the lunch. As well as it all went, I think I can speak for the department in that we were glad it passed. It was fun to prepare for but we were ready for a break!
Since the luncheon, things have somewhat slowed down. Laura (the other intern and my partner in crime) and I began wrapping up our projects and preparing for the new summer interns.
The end of April was an especially exciting time for the Volunteer Services department at St. Jude. I had the privilege of writing an nomination for one of our Volunteens (summer program) to be Youth Volunteer of the Year. Even though I had not yet met her, it was easy to find out why she deserved the award. After reaching out to her teachers and volunteer supervisors, the Volunteer Coordinator worked with me to revise the nomination; I found it difficult to capture her service and heart for St. Jude into 3 short pages. I submitted the nomination and on April 18 I attended the Volunteer Mid-South Spirit of Giving Awards with our coordinators and director. The nominee, her parents, and her teacher were there as well. We were up against some tough competition, but I am excited to say that she won!!! Most of all I am so proud of her ( I have since gotten to know the nominee) and honored to be a part of her nomination. However, I have to admit, my competitive spirit was definitely satisfied as well. :)
The following week was the annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon that our department had been working on all semester. It went very well! There only a couple minor glitches and they were quickly fixed and easy to look past. We just filled the ballroom at the Marriott to capacity and all of those that attended had nothing but great things to say about the event. The memorabilia table turned out really well and the videos did, too. There was a brass quintet that entertained guests as they arrived and we featured a patient who sang and played the guitar during the lunch. As well as it all went, I think I can speak for the department in that we were glad it passed. It was fun to prepare for but we were ready for a break!
Since the luncheon, things have somewhat slowed down. Laura (the other intern and my partner in crime) and I began wrapping up our projects and preparing for the new summer interns.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Internally Honored
Just when things were getting stressful today, God provided a moment to remind me of the bigger picture.
I was asked to go upstairs to receive a Girl Scout cookie donation for our volunteers and was told they wanted a picture, too. I wasn't thrilled about the picture, but I'm the intern so it doesn't really matter ;).
When I got upstairs I saw a couple with their daughter, who is a patient, and a wagon full of cookies. The mom explained that thier daughter isn't able to particpate in Girl Scouts anymore, so her troop sold cookies in her honor. The family decided to donate them to the volunteers.
I was more than honored to take a picture with her handing me a box of cookies.
I'm so thankful for moments like this one when God puts it all back in perspective for me.
I was asked to go upstairs to receive a Girl Scout cookie donation for our volunteers and was told they wanted a picture, too. I wasn't thrilled about the picture, but I'm the intern so it doesn't really matter ;).
When I got upstairs I saw a couple with their daughter, who is a patient, and a wagon full of cookies. The mom explained that thier daughter isn't able to particpate in Girl Scouts anymore, so her troop sold cookies in her honor. The family decided to donate them to the volunteers.
I was more than honored to take a picture with her handing me a box of cookies.
I'm so thankful for moments like this one when God puts it all back in perspective for me.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Internally Behind
As you can see, I am not the most consistent with my "weekly" updates. A lot has happened in the last month...here are just a few highlights:
February 6-10 was Anniversary Week at the hospital. This included themed dress up days to celebrate each decade the hospital has been open. Monday was the 60s, Tuesday: the 70s, etc. To encourage employees to participate, there was a hospital-wide competition. At the end of the week the top 3 departments with the highest percentage of participation won a pizza party. I tend be a little competitive (I know, you're shocked), so I dressed up for 4 of the days and coordinated the pictures to send in each day. We won!!! Here are pictures from each day:
Last week 4 people from our staff attended the Volunteer Mid-South recruitment fair. Non-profits from all over Memphis set up tables at Oak Court Mall so people could learn about the organizations and sign-up to volunteer. It was a lot fun to talk to others about the opportunities at St. Jude. One of our current volunteers happened to be shopping that night and stayed at our table for the evening. It was great to have an actual volunteer recruiting with us. She thinks we're kidding, but she'll be going next year too. :)
Our department is preparing for the annual volunteer appreciation luncheon, coming up in April. This event is especially exciting this year because we're continuing the 50th anniversay theme and celebrating the history of volunteers in addition to the currrent ones. One of my responsibilities is to help collect photographs and memorabilia. These items will be used in a video and a display for people to look at as they arrive at the lunch. I am also working with one of the other interns to coordinate patient entertainment for the event.
One of my on-going tasks is to create flyers about the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is a non-profit that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations. Every other year, surveyors visit the hospital. To help prepare our volunteers, I post these flyers to help them review all the things they learned in orientation.
This week the VIP Newsletter (quarterly newsletter from Volunteer Services) came out. Check it out! You might see an article by someone you know.
Last, here is a picture of the St. Jude 50th Anniversay display inside the hospital. There are pictures, old programs, newspaper clippings, pins, and all kinds of memorabilia from the last 5 decades.
February 6-10 was Anniversary Week at the hospital. This included themed dress up days to celebrate each decade the hospital has been open. Monday was the 60s, Tuesday: the 70s, etc. To encourage employees to participate, there was a hospital-wide competition. At the end of the week the top 3 departments with the highest percentage of participation won a pizza party. I tend be a little competitive (I know, you're shocked), so I dressed up for 4 of the days and coordinated the pictures to send in each day. We won!!! Here are pictures from each day:
Me, Leah, and Laura.
Laura (the other intern) and I made these shirts at 10 the night before.
We chose to just ignore the 24-hour detail of the instructions.
Me, Laura, Alexa, Tricia, Kathryn, and Leah
What you can't see is that Laura and I are also wearing
some very attractive leg-warmers.
Front: Me and Laura
Back: Tricia, Kathryn, Brin and Leah
I was able to borrow the track suit, but I already had
the 1999 North Ridge Elementary shirt. :)
This is the whole Volunteer Services Department.
Front: Brin, Laura, Alexa
Back: Miss Penny, Tricia, Randa, Leah, Me, and Kathryn
It wasn't hard to get 100% participation for 2000s day!
Last week 4 people from our staff attended the Volunteer Mid-South recruitment fair. Non-profits from all over Memphis set up tables at Oak Court Mall so people could learn about the organizations and sign-up to volunteer. It was a lot fun to talk to others about the opportunities at St. Jude. One of our current volunteers happened to be shopping that night and stayed at our table for the evening. It was great to have an actual volunteer recruiting with us. She thinks we're kidding, but she'll be going next year too. :)
Our department is preparing for the annual volunteer appreciation luncheon, coming up in April. This event is especially exciting this year because we're continuing the 50th anniversay theme and celebrating the history of volunteers in addition to the currrent ones. One of my responsibilities is to help collect photographs and memorabilia. These items will be used in a video and a display for people to look at as they arrive at the lunch. I am also working with one of the other interns to coordinate patient entertainment for the event.
One of my on-going tasks is to create flyers about the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is a non-profit that accredits and certifies healthcare organizations. Every other year, surveyors visit the hospital. To help prepare our volunteers, I post these flyers to help them review all the things they learned in orientation.
This week the VIP Newsletter (quarterly newsletter from Volunteer Services) came out. Check it out! You might see an article by someone you know.
Last, here is a picture of the St. Jude 50th Anniversay display inside the hospital. There are pictures, old programs, newspaper clippings, pins, and all kinds of memorabilia from the last 5 decades.
The center plaque reads:
"With deep roots in our past and outstretched branches toward our future,St. Jude Children's Research Hospital reflects on its first 50 years. St. Jude was founded in 1962 by the late entertainer Danny Thomas and has played a significant role in one of the great success stories of modern medicine: increasing survival rates for childhood cancer and improving the quality of care for young patients with life-threatening illnesses. It has contributed to childhood cancer eradication by sharing its research around the world and developing protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today. Thank you for your continued commitment to our mission, and the quality, innovation, collaboration, and compassion that make such a difference for our patients."
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Internally Blessed
I couldn't ask for a better situation right now! I am still loving my job at St. Jude and having a good time with my new roommates. I am so blessed that God opened up this living situation for me. This week was an exciting one for me! On Sunday I drove to Nashville to meet up with my cousin and her family. I hadn't seen them in almost 4 years, so it was great to spend the day with them.
At work this week I attended an Auxiliary club meeting. They had a guest speaker from the Blood Donor Center come talk to the group about giving blood. St. Jude for a long time has been the only hospital in the state of Tennessee with its own blood donation center in the hospital. One of the facts that stuck out to me is that when someone donates plasma, it's the equivalent of giving St. Jude $600. If they had to purchase it from somewhere else, that is how much it would cost. It's also cool to know that all donations (whole blood and plasma) are used at St. Jude only, within 5 days. So if you give blood you know that within 5 days you have directly supported a child's life. This is a great way for people to contribute to the Danny Thomas's vision that "No child should die in the dawn of life."
One of the projects I'm working on is an article about the St. Jude volunteer tour guides. I have been doing interviews and arranging photo shoots for the article that will be part of a quarterly newsletter. It's been a lot of fun learning about the tour guides and their experiences. Tours are open to anyone (you just have to sign up in advance). Out-of-town guests, school groups, local visitors, and donors are among those who come for tours. I have not been on a tour with a volunteer tour guide yet, but I had a few with staff members before I started working, and there is always something new to learn. Even though I saw the same places, the information was either new or just as fascinating as the time before.
Some of the smaller, on-going projects I'm working on are tracking sheets and data entry. Each time a volunteer itneracts with a patient, we track it. It's tedious to input, but valuable information for the volunteer program. I will be tracking my own interactions once I start working with patients in the next couple weeks. My role will be the same as volunteers - to be with a child (patient or sibling) while providing relief to the parents.
Thursday was an exciting day for at St. Jude! The hospital made on FORTUNE magazine's list of "Top 100 Companies to Work For." The is the second year in a row St. Jude has appeared on the list and even moved up since last year. I am not only proud of the hospital for this accomplishment but blessed to be a part of it.
My week ended on a very high note - my birthday! :) It was a long workday but a good one. I had a few surprises from my family and a fun night with my roommates. They had planned a wine and cheese tasting party. I hate wine. But the cheese was good and I enjoyed meeting new people.
At work this week I attended an Auxiliary club meeting. They had a guest speaker from the Blood Donor Center come talk to the group about giving blood. St. Jude for a long time has been the only hospital in the state of Tennessee with its own blood donation center in the hospital. One of the facts that stuck out to me is that when someone donates plasma, it's the equivalent of giving St. Jude $600. If they had to purchase it from somewhere else, that is how much it would cost. It's also cool to know that all donations (whole blood and plasma) are used at St. Jude only, within 5 days. So if you give blood you know that within 5 days you have directly supported a child's life. This is a great way for people to contribute to the Danny Thomas's vision that "No child should die in the dawn of life."
One of the projects I'm working on is an article about the St. Jude volunteer tour guides. I have been doing interviews and arranging photo shoots for the article that will be part of a quarterly newsletter. It's been a lot of fun learning about the tour guides and their experiences. Tours are open to anyone (you just have to sign up in advance). Out-of-town guests, school groups, local visitors, and donors are among those who come for tours. I have not been on a tour with a volunteer tour guide yet, but I had a few with staff members before I started working, and there is always something new to learn. Even though I saw the same places, the information was either new or just as fascinating as the time before.
Some of the smaller, on-going projects I'm working on are tracking sheets and data entry. Each time a volunteer itneracts with a patient, we track it. It's tedious to input, but valuable information for the volunteer program. I will be tracking my own interactions once I start working with patients in the next couple weeks. My role will be the same as volunteers - to be with a child (patient or sibling) while providing relief to the parents.
Thursday was an exciting day for at St. Jude! The hospital made on FORTUNE magazine's list of "Top 100 Companies to Work For." The is the second year in a row St. Jude has appeared on the list and even moved up since last year. I am not only proud of the hospital for this accomplishment but blessed to be a part of it.
My week ended on a very high note - my birthday! :) It was a long workday but a good one. I had a few surprises from my family and a fun night with my roommates. They had planned a wine and cheese tasting party. I hate wine. But the cheese was good and I enjoyed meeting new people.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Internally Learning
Week 2 of my intership at St. Jude came and went in a hurry! I went through volunteer orientation because I will actually be filling a shift as part of my job. I am excited about this opportunity because I will gain two different perspectives on the volunteering experience. As an intern, one of my resonsibilites is to do volunteer spotlights. I started one of these spotlights this week. They include scheduling a photo shoot with the volunteer and St. Jude's Biomedical Communications team, doing an interview, writing an article, and combining it all into a piece to submit to the website and newsletter.
I also sat in on several more meetings. Some were more interesting than others but they were all informative and helped me understand all the pieces to the St. Jude puzzle. This week I learned about the process for visitors do do special events, the developing career of volunteer management and how much it costs the institution to bring on volunteers. I had never considered that someone's donation of time would actually cost money for St. Jude, but it most certainly does. Another fact about St. Jude is that it costs $1.7 million to operate every day! That in itself is impressive, but what's more impressive is that a large majority of it is made of individual donations of $30 a month. Danny Thomas would be proud!
Speaking of Danny Thomas, last week would have been his 100th birthday with 50th anniversary of the opening of St. Jude coming up in February. It is definitely an exciting time to be involved with the hospital!
Early in the week we had a luncheon to honor one of the volunteers who has been serving St. Jude for 27 years! Although I did not know her very well, or many of the people that attended, it was fun to share in celebrating her impact. (As well as eat leftovers at lunch for the next 3 days.)
I attended another dinner at MGHouse, which led to my favorite part of the week. I had done crafts with some of the kids and then saw the same kids at the hospital the next morning. It was neat to be able to greet them by name and interact with them after meeting them the night before.
I love my job and have had a great first 2 weeks, but I am definitely excited about having Monday off!
I also sat in on several more meetings. Some were more interesting than others but they were all informative and helped me understand all the pieces to the St. Jude puzzle. This week I learned about the process for visitors do do special events, the developing career of volunteer management and how much it costs the institution to bring on volunteers. I had never considered that someone's donation of time would actually cost money for St. Jude, but it most certainly does. Another fact about St. Jude is that it costs $1.7 million to operate every day! That in itself is impressive, but what's more impressive is that a large majority of it is made of individual donations of $30 a month. Danny Thomas would be proud!
Speaking of Danny Thomas, last week would have been his 100th birthday with 50th anniversary of the opening of St. Jude coming up in February. It is definitely an exciting time to be involved with the hospital!
Early in the week we had a luncheon to honor one of the volunteers who has been serving St. Jude for 27 years! Although I did not know her very well, or many of the people that attended, it was fun to share in celebrating her impact. (As well as eat leftovers at lunch for the next 3 days.)
I attended another dinner at MGHouse, which led to my favorite part of the week. I had done crafts with some of the kids and then saw the same kids at the hospital the next morning. It was neat to be able to greet them by name and interact with them after meeting them the night before.
I love my job and have had a great first 2 weeks, but I am definitely excited about having Monday off!
Friday, January 6, 2012
Internally Acquainted
Orientation: Check.
Name Badge: Check.
Parking Tag: Check.
Learning my way around: Still in progress.
After the first week of my internship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I know one way to get most places inside the hospital. As long as I can start at the Hope Boat (information desk), I can find my way through the labrynth of hallways that make up the impressive campus. I've only had a taste of what my internship will be like for the next five months, but so far, I like the flavor. The people are friendly, the job description is exciting, and the purpose is motivating, that "no child should die in the dawn of life," as founder, Danny Thomas stated.
Most of my week consisted of getting acquainted with general procedures of the hospital and how things run in Volunteer Services. This included orientations, security processes, and several meetings. I also got to start a few flyers, set up volunteer schedules and attend a Memphis Grizzlies House dinner. The MGHouse is hotel-type housing where families stay for up to 7 days during short-term treatment for their child. My favorite part has been getting to know the staff. It's a small staff (made of 6 full-time employees and 3 interns) but it's a tight-knitt staff. In the next couple weeks I will be trained and begin having more interaction with patients and their families. I am excited to see what God has in store for me now that I've gotten this far.
Name Badge: Check.
Parking Tag: Check.
Learning my way around: Still in progress.
After the first week of my internship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I know one way to get most places inside the hospital. As long as I can start at the Hope Boat (information desk), I can find my way through the labrynth of hallways that make up the impressive campus. I've only had a taste of what my internship will be like for the next five months, but so far, I like the flavor. The people are friendly, the job description is exciting, and the purpose is motivating, that "no child should die in the dawn of life," as founder, Danny Thomas stated.
Most of my week consisted of getting acquainted with general procedures of the hospital and how things run in Volunteer Services. This included orientations, security processes, and several meetings. I also got to start a few flyers, set up volunteer schedules and attend a Memphis Grizzlies House dinner. The MGHouse is hotel-type housing where families stay for up to 7 days during short-term treatment for their child. My favorite part has been getting to know the staff. It's a small staff (made of 6 full-time employees and 3 interns) but it's a tight-knitt staff. In the next couple weeks I will be trained and begin having more interaction with patients and their families. I am excited to see what God has in store for me now that I've gotten this far.
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