July 2009
St. Tammany Parish Hospital offers volunteer program
The St. Tammany Parish Hospital Summer Youth Volunteer Program provides senior high school students with an overview of the operations of a hospital and a glimpse of healthcare careers. Twenty young people from area high schools spend 16 hours per week at the hospital. The first three hours of each day are spent observing, or in some cases participating in, the activities of a hospital department.
The most popular rotation is Pathology Lab. Lab employees are excited to teach the volunteers and create a highly structured program for them. At the end of the lab rotation, the volunteers will have seen the entire department, including the blood bank where they get the opportunity to type their own blood.
After lunch, volunteers are involved in a structured learning activity. There are panel discussions by nurses and other healthcare personnel to help the volunteers get a clearer understanding of some of the careers available to them. Additionally, there are lectures on infection prevention, diabetes and other health issues. Acadian Ambulance provides paramedics who talk about their role in healthcare, and the sheriff’s office brings its mobile crime lab to discuss forensic sciences.
The program culminates with a project presentation by the volunteers. During the summer, the volunteers, singly or in groups, research a selected healthcare-related issue. The final day of the program, students present what they have learned to their families and hospital staff. Prior to the presentations, the students display their projects so that hospital employees may vote for the best one, with winners announced at the closing ceremony.
The Summer Youth Volunteer Program is a natural evolution of the candy striper program of the past. Young people participate in a structured activity in the summer; they collect service hours; and they learn valuable information that will help them make career decisions. The Summer Youth Volunteer Program at St. Tammany Parish Hospital is helping to grow the next generation of healthcare providers.
Parties interested in participating in next year’s program can contact the education department at St. Tammany Parish Hospital or visit their website at www.stph.org.
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