May

My summit experience has been busy but very exciting to meet so many new people. My volunteer hours with the Kitchen Clinic will look very good on my resume especially when applying for a position as a Physical Therapist. The experience with working with others in the same house will also be beneficial in the future because I will be staying with people in the future. The greatest thing I learned from summit was living in a house for the first time on my own without parents or family to be on to me about things such as laundry, dishes, cleaning house and time management. It taught me very quickly how to cook for myself, do my own laundry (I know sad, but true. lol), and time management. The biggest impact we have made with the kitchen clinic I would say is the DVDs and Books that we purchased for their lobby which will leave a lasting impact on the place. If I had not been able to do Summit, I most likely would have been living off campus again and most likely would not have met as many people. I also most likely would have been late to several more classes than normal. Another thing is that I would not have had the volunteer hours without doing summit because without the motivation I would most likely have not made the time for it being a student athlete. The only thing I would change about the Summit experience would be the time the class meets once a month. I would prefer it to meet earlier in the day but I know that is hard to do considering many other classes meet during the early parts of the day. I would at least change the day to a Thursday, that way people can still make plans for friday night, or go home or athletes don't have to worry about missing class due to track meets and games on fridays. I would tell future summit groups to make sure they stay in good communication with each member as well as the agency they were associated with.

Variety at the Kitchen

This semester has been extremely busy, both for me as a student, and for the Kitchen and the always occupied waiting rooms. This Spring I've personally had the opportunity to expand my role at the Clinic from just being an "escort" to taking on more administrative type tasks. Honestly, I prefer it that way as I've never been much of a people person (especially sick people). I like to be behind the scenes doing the often tedious tasks like importing packing slips into the computer. So, for me this semester has been an opportunity to learn more about how a clinic works as a synergistic whole. 

In recent times the Kitchen acquired new office furniture for the spring Missouri State students who intern at the facility, giving me the opportunity to bring my "crafting" skills from architecture into a clinic. I say this knowing that I was able to assemble two desks and an office chair before the clinic staff finished one. This was probably my most enjoyable experience at the clinic. Even while being a minor, if not silly, task, I  found that it was just a hair closer to architecture than the usual unpronounceable medical jargon I've come to know there.

The biggest obstacle I've faced in regards to my volunteering at the clinic has just been getting there. I've been so busy with Architecture that I've not been able to make it every week to volunteer. Luckily my largest project finished up at the beginning of the month, giving me a few extra hours a week to volunteer. I've officially began visiting the clinic twice a week to make up for the lost time. I'm just glad the MSU volunteers are in the clinic this semester to make the operation of the clinic easier on the staff.

With the time we have remaining we will have to decide what the best use of our money will be. With pharmaceuticals costing so much, and many other products being provided already it will be a difficult decision to decide what to do for the Kitchen. Whatever we decide, we've definitely made an effort to have at least one of us there every week to provide a little bit of help. 

April

Well so far this month I have not been able to make it in to the kitchen due to track and being that its nearing the end I've had many test and papers pile up on me. As it is still early in the month though, I plan on going in tomorrow (wed.) and Thursday of this week to make up some lost time. So far I assume my duties have not changed. The one project we plan on finishing before the year ends is using our allotted funds to buy the kitchen what we agreed would be a more lasting touch with such a small budget. We agreed that buying them educational movies, magazines would be great, because they are planning on buying a flat screen TV soon so it will work out well. Movies,magazines, and books can be used over and over again unlike if we used the money to buy maybe one thing of medicine. All we need to do is get the list of which ones they would like and then organize a time to go out and purchase them.

Paul

March

This month flew by so fast! I only managed to make it into the kitchen 3 times due to school and track obligations. However this year so far my duties have changed dramatically. I now work the phones and use the computer to enter perscriptions into the database. It is not quite as rewarding as directly working with people, but at least I do still feel of some use. Every time I go in I manage to enter stacks of those perscriptions which I know is a big hassel to the kitchen members so I know they appreciate that. I also managed to get my fellow track team member involved in volunteering there starting this past month and he has done a great job from what I hear. He is a spanish major looking to further his submersion in the language so he has been a lot of help there working as an interpreter, often times by himself so I'm not sure how they managed without him! Overall I think its been a good month.

Paul

March work

I have finally gotten my schedule fixed so I can be back in the clinic! It is a rewarding feeling but it resulted from dropping a class, so the feelings are bittersweet. During my hiatus, I have still been informed about general happenings at the clinic but more than anything its the people I miss that I worked with for the last seven months. I'm excited to see them all soon but first SPRING BREAK!
Ben

Pushing Along

Its been an extremely busy month for me, from the past couple weeks running from 8 AM to 3AM designing in my studio, to squeezing in time in the mornings for volunteering at the Kitchen. Despite the busyness, it's been fun. I'm hoping that I'll continue to find time in this busy semester to keep up a weekly visit to the clinic.

My most recent trip to the Kitchen had me performing "secretarial duties". Being a more behind-the-scenes type person (Gold in color for those that get this), I'm not especially great at making phone calls to patients; however, for my first time I think I did pretty well - especially with the occasional person who hadn't quite mastered the English language (or at least that was my impression). At least it was an opportunity to practice my person to person skills, which is always a good thing.

As spring break looms ahead, I'm hoping to squeeze in a few more hours at the clinic. It's been a fun year so far living and volunteering - even if admittedly I'm not especially interested in the medical field - in Summit Park, and I think as my Architectural design project wraps up before spring break, I'll be able to devote more time to my volunteering.

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.