We finally made it to Little Rock, AR after two days of driving in a 15 passenger van and over 900 miles. We had a hospital orientation yesterday and got introduced to the different positions available for our volunteer projects. My top two were to help in their classroom and work with the babies and kids in rehab. I GOT MY TOP 2! So in the classroom they are basically tutors to the patients whose teachers send their homework to the hospital and I'll be helping with that! So the kids that can't leave their rooms for whatever reasons I will be going into their rooms for one on one help, and in the classroom when kids come in I'll be helping for those who need one on one help! How perfect is this for me!? So excited. So I do that in the morning, and in the afternoon I go and work in two different departments, wherever I'm needed. I work in the department with the babies and do busy work that they need and I also have a list of chillens that need to be held, played with, or just be stimulated in general and meet those needs for them. Can't wait to get started with that. And then the other half of my afternoon is in the rehab department where mainly kids are recovering from brain/spinal chord injuries and need people to just hang out with them, talk with them or just play a game with them. I am ecstatic about being here, but today was my first day on the jobs and it was kind of stressful. Just for the fact that I'm afraid I'll do or say something wrong in a hospital setting that will just ruin everything, so I was tense all day. Plus it's a fairly big hospital, about as big as Maine Med (maybe a little smaller) but still large for just being a hospital dedicated to children, and everything looks the same and I'm worried about getting lost. It's scary. but luckily I haven't so far and everyone there is friendly and helpful!!
So I don't have internet access at our apartments so I won't be able to update you as much as I want to, and won't be able to post pictures of my job/work for obvious reasons, unless there are no patients in the pictures then I can. But I will keep you updated as much as possible!! I am loving all the southern accents here! The people here are very friendly and so excited to have us, they really appreciate our help, so thats pretty cool. Ummm so I'm sitting in a Starbucks with my team because we were all so desperate for internet connection, so I got a delicious Chai Latte in this deal as well as being able to update you lovely folks! And here is the address you can feel free to send me stuff to (because it's muchly appreciated)
Attn: Annie Cavallaro
AmeriCorps NCCC
1 Children's Way Slot 108
Little Rock, Arkansas 72202
SO nice catching up with everyone! Leave comments at the bottom so I know who's reading!!! I'll be home in one month 2 days, but who's counting!? HA and I cannot believe Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK! time is flying like crazy out here!! We are just staying in Little Rock for Thanksgiving, there are 2 other teams in Arkansas so we are all going to get together and have a lovely dinner (even though I don't know any of them) it will still be pleasant. If I don't update by then everyone have fantastic holidays!! Love you all!!!
Annie!
ReplyDeleteThis project sounds so perfect for you! It's really great that you're getting the chance to do something that you love and are really good at. Can't wait to hear more about it.
Pediatric hospital settings have always made me nervous too, probably why I chose adult med/surg nursing. Once you get the orientation jitters out, I'm sure you'll settle right in. Not that you want to go back to school, but have you ever considered pediatric nursing...? Just sayin'
Good luck!