This year I joined a club at Ohio State called Remote Area Medical (RAM). As a part of this club, I have the opportunity to work in free clinics across the U.S. in order to help people in need of medical care. This semester I was able to go on one of the trips with the club to a clinic in Knoxville, Tennessee. During this trip, I was able to volunteer for over 20 hours in the clinic where I sorted through donations, directed patients to their locations, and scribed patient conditions during examinations. I spent the majority of my time in the dental section, where patients were able to receive fillings, get an extraction, or a cleaning. I was able to see how dental hygienists complete initial examinations, and learn the terminology that they use to describe the procedures that need to be performed. It was also interesting to be able to watch some of the dental procedures that were taking place in the clinic. 

This experience has shown me another aspect to medicine that I had not really been exposed to before. I enjoyed being in this medical setting and being able to see the effect that this clinic had on the patients. In total, this clinic helped over 1,050 patients receive free medical care over the course of 3 days. I now am more aware of the need that many people in the U.S. have, and how impactful access to free medical care can be. I hope to build on this experience by going on another RAM trip during a future semester at Ohio State. I would like to be able to go to a different community and see the impact that a free clinic can have on the area. Along with that, I hope to volunteer or shadow in other areas of the clinic such as vision or other medical services.

The Covid- 19 pandemic made it more difficult to find traditional volunteer opportunities while on campus, but I was still able to find other ways to help out the community. This year I was able to learn and try new things, such as socializing with bunnies through Ohio House Rabbit Rescue, tying pieces of plastic together in order to make sleeping mats for the homeless, and assembling harm reduction safety kits for Safe Point. These experiences were completely new to me, and they were able to show me how volunteering and helping the community can be done in ways that I might not have initially expected. This year, my favorite volunteer experience would have to be when I was able to make “plarn” out of plastic bags. It was nice to be able to reuse the plastic bags that I had accumulated while on campus, and put them toward something that could be useful to people throughout Columbus. I was unaware of how tying and crocheting pieces of plastic bags together could be made into waterproof sleeping mats for the homeless. I had never heard of “plarn” before, so it was really exciting to learn something new that can be done easily and safely during the pandemic. I am thankful for this experience and what it was able to teach me, and I hope to continue it when I return to campus.

I have had the opportunity to volunteer at Dayton Children’s Hospital for the past three years, where I have done anything from cleaning waiting rooms to visiting patients in long- term care rooms. Volunteering at Dayton Children’s Hospital has allowed me to further explore my academic interests and goals for the future. I am proud of the connections that I have made throughout my three years, and how much I was able to do during that time. I have come a long way since I first started volunteering, and I have learned a lot throughout my time there. As a result of this experience, I have learned about how a hospital typically operates, and what it is like to work there on any given day. I have also learned a lot about myself and what I might want to do in my future. Being in this environment has shown me how much I enjoy working around medicine, as well as how I am passionate about doing what I can to help those in need.

I have truly grown and changed as a result of volunteering at Dayton Children’s Hospital, and it has taught me to be more aware of my community. This experience has led me to volunteer and get involved with other organizations centered around helping kids such as BuckeyeThon and Project Sunshine. Along with that, I hope to build on this experience by volunteering at Nationwide Children’s Hospital while on campus, and continue to explore my interests. Overall, volunteering at Dayton Children’s Hospital has directed me toward a future where I can make a difference and do something that I am passionate about.