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.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
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.
Internally Intrigued
Ten days ago I moved to Memphis, Tennesse for an internship at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. My job is in the volunteer services department and will go through the end of May. I will be working under the coordinator of shift work volunteers, helping her oversee the programming of volunteers which include doing volunteer spotlights, writing newsletters, creating flyers, filling volunteer shifts myself, etc.
The process to get the internship, from my first interest through being offered the position, spanned out across 10 months, but my original aspirations to get involved with St. Jude began years ago. As a kid, my family would drive Memphis a couple times a year to visit the rest of our family in NE Tennessee. Every time we did, I took note of the St. Jude buildings as we passed by them on the interstate. I knew about St. Jude and, seeing it through the car window, I was intrigued. I have no medical inclination whatsoever, but I tucked away the thought of St. Jude into my mind as something I might pursue later in life. Fast forward about 8 years and there I was on a computer at OU searching for opportunities, for after graduation. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but began browsing the St. Jude website, www.stjude.org, and stumbled on the Volunteer Services Internship.
I decided to keep this blog as a convenient way to update my friends and family of how things are going with the internship and what's new with me in Memphis. INTERNally, I get exposure to a lot of the inner-workings of the hospital (the non-clinical aspects, of course). I am excited for the opportunity to grow professionally through this rare experience while making a difference at St. Jude for the kids that depend on it.
The process to get the internship, from my first interest through being offered the position, spanned out across 10 months, but my original aspirations to get involved with St. Jude began years ago. As a kid, my family would drive Memphis a couple times a year to visit the rest of our family in NE Tennessee. Every time we did, I took note of the St. Jude buildings as we passed by them on the interstate. I knew about St. Jude and, seeing it through the car window, I was intrigued. I have no medical inclination whatsoever, but I tucked away the thought of St. Jude into my mind as something I might pursue later in life. Fast forward about 8 years and there I was on a computer at OU searching for opportunities, for after graduation. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but began browsing the St. Jude website, www.stjude.org, and stumbled on the Volunteer Services Internship.
I decided to keep this blog as a convenient way to update my friends and family of how things are going with the internship and what's new with me in Memphis. INTERNally, I get exposure to a lot of the inner-workings of the hospital (the non-clinical aspects, of course). I am excited for the opportunity to grow professionally through this rare experience while making a difference at St. Jude for the kids that depend on it.
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