Over the course of my first year as a member of the Health Science Scholars Program, I have had numerous opportunities to serve on campus, for local organizations, and in neighboring suburbs. One of my first service opportunities through HSS was volunteering with the Garden of Hope. This is a local garden that grows fresh produce for patients that have cancer. Having access to fresh produce is very important to these patients and many times it is hard for them to get the fruits and vegetables they need to better their health while they are going through treatment. In addition, I also volunteered to help make blankets and pillows for the children with cancer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Being able to help children battling cancer is something very near to my heart and therefore I really enjoyed being able to spend time with new friends helping a great cause. Furthermore, I also spent a total of eight hours serving the homeless in Columbus by making sandwiches at a local church. This has been a long-term service organization that I am involved in, and I plan to continue to volunteer my service with them as much as possible. One of my favorite service opportunities with HSS was going to a local retirement home on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to help several of the residents. My job during this time was to help organize one of the resident’s rooms. I really enjoyed helping her clean her room as well as talk to her and get to know her better. Lastly, my final service experience for my first year in HSS was to help with a simulation exercise at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine.
My most memorable experience of service during my first year was being a victim of a bombing in the simulation exercise. This was an experience that not many people get to do and it was really interesting seeing how much planning needs to go into preparing for a city-wide disaster. Another reason this was very memorable to me is because I got to interact with medical school students as they were learning what to do in the case of a bombing. Being able to be a part of them learning how to act in this situation and hear all of their knowledge on how to treat each patient based on their injuries made me excited as I thought about my goals for a future in the medical field. I also gain more networking connections as I was able to interact with doctors in the central Ohio area as well as having the opportunity to meet the Dean of the medical school. Lastly, this opportunity gave me insight as to what my role will be this summer as I get o intern with OhioHealth in their simulation laboratory.
Overall, this first year of service has given me the chance to serve several different organizations and groups of people, and I look forward to continuing to serve more in the future.
This is a picture of our “injuries” from the simulation volunteer experience.