All Good Things..

I can't believe it is over. Wow, the year flew by. My summit experience has been great. It had its ups and downs, but overall it was great. I really benefited from the classes that help me really learn more about myself and others. For example the colors assessment was great and it made sense when compared to the summit community. One of the greatest things I have learned is that you have to learn to be adaptable. Circumstances and even people change but I need to keep my head in the game and keep truckin'. With the Kitchen, I feel like I have truly made an impact on the Springfield community. The people I met who were often sad and depressed were able to cheer up when being involved in a simple conversation. Being in summit really pushed me to be more active in my community, and I know that without being in summit this year I would probably not have had the great experiences and might not have enjoyed Drury as much as I have. The only thing I might have changed in the summit experience was the Stress Free course. It didn't seemed to be so beneficial, but I do say that it was interesting to see the different types of wellness programs Drury has to offer. My only advice to future summit groups is to always keep a good communication with each other and your advisors.

FebruANY

This month has been great. I was able to be quite useful as I began to pick up on what I can and cannot do. I have now been rooming patients regularly and am beginning to like the real patient interaction. I am also beginning to see more of the personal side of the staff at the clinic. Prior to this month, I had just been one of the volunteers, but now I am beginning to maybe see the staff opening up. We always discuss weekend plans and they show me shortcuts on the work I am doing. It is great getting the support of the staff as I volunteer at the clinic.

Moving on Up...

I have had quite an interesting time working as a volunteer at the Clinic, especially this last week. The computers were down both the days I volunteered. This inconvenience really revealed how much we rely on computers. A doctor was unable to show due to an injury, which sometimes happens. Instead of contacting the patients to tell them that there appointment was rescheduled, the nurses were unable to get the phone numbers or know which patients were scheduled. So patients came in, only to realize that their appointment was rescheduled. They were not the only ones facing trouble with the clinic. At first, I felt that I was not very important, just only listening to voicemails left by patients. To change this, I started looking for work as opposed to asking for work. This was when I started moving up and feeling like I was having a greater impact at the Clinic.