The TSS auction passed largely without incident. There were, however, dozens of people everywhere! The live auction tent in particular seemed to be very popular. Every once and a while a gust of wind would blow into one of the tents I was stationed, effectively toppling over 10+ information stands. JC would feign a yell “We have a breach” and we would rush to upright all the stands. The majority of people who were at the auction knew exactly what to do, but I was glad to help the one or two who did not. In all, I felt the auction went very smoothly and was very successful.
8/17/05

Orientation and St. John’s hospital was very enlightening. I never knew the efforts the hospital made to ensure patient confidentiality. There were a variety of new laws that were especially important to hospitals in Wyoming and the video made these new protocols very clear. The video wasn’t too long and Candace (the volunteer coordinator) took me on a tour to visit some of the places I would be working. Everyone seemed extremely enthusiastic with their jobs. I’ve concluded that happy people work in hospitals.
8/22/05

Today was my first real work day. When I walked into the MRI the people at the desks did a wave and exclaimed ‘tag team volunteers!”. Over the next few hours I learned that filing was one of the most important functions of a hospital, for if there is ever a problem they must consult their records. However, filing certainly is not prioritized in the Hospital very high. The entire MRI staff seemed appreciative that a huge stack of papers Were neatly filed.
8/23/05

I started the day off by returning to the MRI to file for another hour before I decided to help other departments. I went down to materials where the director, Marianne, had a heavy backlog of product orders that she needed filed. This wasn’t the most fun of projects, but it put me in an extremely interesting environment. The hustle and bustle was very high as orders came in and out. Material’s personnel were everywhere cross checking this order and then that order. While I learned a great deal from being in the materials department, I think I learned more when I was done and went to lunch. After I ordered a burger Miranda, from the MRI, invited me over to her table. We were talking and soon enough switched to Spanish. There is a large community of Hispanics in the hospital, and Miranda opened my eyes to an entirely new community in our conversation.
8/24/05

When I walked into the hospital, for the first time, the front desk greeted me by name and passed on a request from Marianne to finish filing in Materials. So, I did exactly that. When I finished, Marianne had three freshly filed file cabinets. Marianne was thrilled with her newly filed system and give me several free movie passes, which I can tell you, I appreciated. It was just then that Candace and two other ladies were struggling to haul several boxes off the loading dock. I volunteered my services and soon enough I was on my way to the Hospital’s Foundation (the fund raising department). As it turns out the annual St. John golf match was just around the corner, and the boxes contained thousands of postcards that were to be sent out no later than tomorrow. I had to spend a much longer time at the Hospital than I had planned, but deadlines are deadlines.
8/25/05

I was very excited to talk to Miranda today. With all my other projects finished, I made my way over to the MRI and spent an enjoyable three hours filing and talking with Miranda. She showed me all the hand signals that she used in Mexico, which were quite different from our own. I knew the language was different, but I never imagined the hand signals would be different as well. At lunch Candace passed along a request to go to the surgical center. It is hospital protocol to send a thank you note to anyone who goes through surgery. The surgeons and surgery staff do not have time to fill out these cards, however, so I did. I must have prepped at least two boxes of cards for the surgical center. The thank you cards are not as essential as hospital files, however I was glad to contribute nonetheless.
8/27/05

Almost everyone in Jackson has had an MRI!. It is an outdoor town, after all. Every time I have filed there I have encountered just about everyone I know. Miranda showed me their schedule and it was booked for three weeks, which is astounding because the typical MRI only takes half an hour. Because it has such a fast turnover rate they have a state of the art facility and they have a lot of filing. My first stop in the morning was at the MRI, and sure enough, there was a lot to do. When I finished I went over to the surgical center and prepared another box of thank you cards. All said and done, it was a very busy day.
8/30/05

I started a new project today. Remember the Foundation? Well, the ladies whom I helped send postcards requested me to help set up a filing system. I had my own desk complete with soda and hot tomales from the get go. Of all the file systems in the hospital, theirs was the most complete. I quickly learned that for them, filing is not an option. Whenever someone donates to the Hospital they are dialed into the foundation system- they always keep track of the hospital benefactors. I spent most of my time going through small quirks in their filing system and making sure everything was in it’s proper place. When I was done I went over to the surgical center and polished off some more thankyou cards.
8/31/05

I started the day off in the MRI. When I first entered, Miranda presented me with an MRI shirt. Apparently they give all their clients shirts and she thought I should have one as well. But by far and away the highlight of this filing session was talking to the operators of the MRI machine. They let me watch as the MRI operated. It reminded me of the movie ‘Airplane’ as there were an immense number of controls and flashing buttons that only the operator could make sense of. I went over to the foundation in the afternoon –the golf fund raiser was a success and they needed many new files in it’s wake.
9/1/05

It turns out that the ladies who run the foundation are also in charge of all the art for the hospital. I learned that many of the hospital donators donate tax deductible art to St. Johns in an effort to make it appear less sterile. I filed the new art donations and prepared them to be hung tomorrow. In the Surgical Center I was promoted from thank you cards to surgical forms and information packets. Apparently the surgery process is long, involving doctor consultations and a lot of reading for the patient. I helped put these packets and forms together.
9/2/05

This was my last day volunteering at the hospital. However, it was my most engaging project yet. The Foundation ladies and I went over to the Health Institute (relatively near Foundation offices) and changed out their paintings. There were many factors involved in the process that I never considered before. Each painting was aligned with the bottom of the next. Each painting was also apportioned to a section of wall based on measurements. The whole process took a long time, but the Health Institute staff noticed a big difference in the look of the department.