It was one of those mornings that your bladder wakes you up. Also, i was STARVING so that probably had something to do with it.
Let me tell you how very glad I am that I woke up with a start this morning.
There is a free clinic in South Salt Lake, Maliheh Free Clinic, that Cherie and I have been wanting to check out for a while now to see if they have any volunteer opportunities. Today happened to be the day that we decided to do just that.
Since it opens at 9:00 a.m., we decided to be there right around then. We went in expecting to fill out some paper work, maybe have an interview, and really just find out what kind of volunteer opportunities they had, if any at all.
This is what happened:
We were taken to the RN in charge of the operation for the day. She was THRILLED that two Med Techs had walked in her door ready to help. She quickly gave us a run down of the purpose of the clinic and a little bit about what happens there. Then she took our picture and gave us shirts and applications. About this time, everyone realized that the person who was supposed to be running the lab this morning had a funeral that he needed to attend - meaning they didn't have anyone to cover the lab.
Enter Tiffany and Cherie.
Basically they said here is the lab, anything you will need can be found here, and set us free to run the lab all by ourselves. We drew blood, did some basic testing, and learned how to work their 20 year old centrifuge.
Every single person - nurse, doctor, tech - was so happy that we were willing to help. I was thanked more times today than I normally am in a month. It was so good to feel like we were really making a difference and helping all those people out.
Working in health care can tend to be kind of stressful. Hospitals have all sorts of rules and regulations (out of necessity) and people generally aren't happy to be there. Even one mistake can seriously effect the life of a patient. I think that health care workers (myself included) sometimes forget that everyone involved is doing the best they can and only want to the best for the patient. Don't get me wrong, I love everything about my job and I don't have any complaints. It was really cool though to be able to see the mentality of the free clinic. Everyone that is there is there because they want to be. No one is getting paid, there aren't any special perks. Everyone is a volunteer and is there to help people. By choice. And everyone is so happy and helpful.
When we left, about 3 hours after we first arrived, one of the doctors escorted us out. The RN in charge gave us big hugs and profusely thanked us. We truly made a difference today.
What they have going on at the Maliheh clinic is truly amazing and I am glad that I got to be a part of that today. I look forward to the many days that I will be spending there in the future.
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