I volunteered at the UPMC Horizon Hospital this past summer and got to experience more of what it is like to work in a hospital and healthcare setting. My responsibilities varied from being responsible for patient transport, medicine/lab work transport. At the front information desk, I was also clerical volunteer and was responsible for filing and organizing paperwork. I helped patients get to where they needed to go, whether it was physically taking them or instructing them. I also was involved in transporting medical supplies between the pharmacy and other departments, such as the cancer center, which I visited often.
My understanding of the world transformed in that I got a better view at what quality patient care is and how important it is. One day, I want to be a part of a healthcare system as good as UPMC provides. Putting patients needs above all else was always a priority. Getting to see the doctors, nurses, and staff doing their jobs to the best of their ability every day was inspiring and showed me how healthcare is vital to humanity’s future. I think I understand how important it is to me to be a part of the cutting-edge medical research and treatments that I witnessed. I also realized how much my seemingly-small help to the hospital staff relieved a lot of stress on them. Seeing people do work is so much different than hearing it, and in a post-covid world, I was appreciative of our healthcare heroes even more. The staff was incredibly friendly and constantly doing their best to make sure patients were comfortable, which like I said is difficult in a world after experiencing Covid-19. It takes a lot of bravery to be at the frontline. The strength it takes to face and treat cancer, for example, every day is inspiring. It inspires me to try harder to reach my goal of being a doctor one day and being someone who makes that difference, saves lives. The volunteers I worked with were also impactful on me. They were majority elderly folk who volunteered at the hospital ever since they retired to keep them on their feet. Learning about their experiences in life in general contributed to my overall volunteering experience, and to know that they willingly spend their free time helping out a hospital who truly needs their help, touched my heart.
My experience volunteering this summer was valuable to me as a pre-medical student who wanted to experience being in more hospital-care settings. I learned how passionate I am about wanting to be a part of the saving lives I saw people do everyday and I realized even the smallest things that doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab technicians, etc. do all contribute to making the biggest difference. I learned a lot also about being human – in the sense that healthcare is so much more than science and it is a lot more about just caring. Caring about each other and helping each other. I hope to carry these lessons with me in my last year of college and hopefully in medical school one day.