Monday, June 07, 2010
Junior volunteers play key role in healthcare
The Great Invasion is upon us. Soon, 105 Junior Volunteers will arrive at The William W. Backus Hospital, as they do every year at this time.
Their energy permeates our hospital hallways, their habit of traveling in pairs draws smiles from staff, and we are preparing for a very busy — and very rewarding — summer. We strive to make the Junior Volunteer Program a positive experience. We have a simple goal in mind: that they will help us in our mission of improving the health of the community, and consider Backus Hospital as a future employer.
Our summer Junior Volunteer Program has evolved to include career exploration. In addition to their regular duties (admitting, discharging, transporting specimens, helping on nursing floors) Junior Volunteers are encouraged to network with staff, find advocates and mentors. Helping high school students explore careers in healthcare and finding people who will help them through this process has become a major focus.
Whether a Junior Volunteer wishes to be a nurse or a surgeon; an accountant or information technology specialist; an engineer or a communicator, we make sure they know that Backus has a need for their expertise. Junior Volunteers can return to our community, live a full life and have a rewarding career as a Backus employee.
Many Connecticut youths leave our region and our state after college to pursue careers elsewhere. This “brain drain” is a vexing situation. Why are they leaving Connecticut? Do they think they cannot find jobs here, that it is too expensive to live here, or that we are not “happening” enough? Community hospitals are as dependent on the community for employees, volunteers and vendors as the community is dependent on us for excellent healthcare. Our futures are intertwined — and volunteer programs can serve as a vital link to creating the workforce of the future.
Our goal is to show high school students they can find a rewarding career at Backus Hospital, one that will be challenging and rewarding financially as well as professionally. And what do you mean, “We are in the middle of nowhere?” We’re within reasonable driving distance to New York and Boston — a short six-hour flight from San Francisco and Paris! We are the center of it all!
Please join me in welcoming this year’s crop of junior volunteers. We should all welcome them, and embrace them, because, after all, one day, they may be taking are of us!
Mary Rahaim is the Director of Volunteer Services at The William W. Backus Hospital.
Email Ms. Rahaim and all the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org. To comment on this or other Healthy Living columns, click below or go to the Healthy Living blog at www.backushospital.org/backus-blogs.
Their energy permeates our hospital hallways, their habit of traveling in pairs draws smiles from staff, and we are preparing for a very busy — and very rewarding — summer. We strive to make the Junior Volunteer Program a positive experience. We have a simple goal in mind: that they will help us in our mission of improving the health of the community, and consider Backus Hospital as a future employer.
Our summer Junior Volunteer Program has evolved to include career exploration. In addition to their regular duties (admitting, discharging, transporting specimens, helping on nursing floors) Junior Volunteers are encouraged to network with staff, find advocates and mentors. Helping high school students explore careers in healthcare and finding people who will help them through this process has become a major focus.
Whether a Junior Volunteer wishes to be a nurse or a surgeon; an accountant or information technology specialist; an engineer or a communicator, we make sure they know that Backus has a need for their expertise. Junior Volunteers can return to our community, live a full life and have a rewarding career as a Backus employee.
Many Connecticut youths leave our region and our state after college to pursue careers elsewhere. This “brain drain” is a vexing situation. Why are they leaving Connecticut? Do they think they cannot find jobs here, that it is too expensive to live here, or that we are not “happening” enough? Community hospitals are as dependent on the community for employees, volunteers and vendors as the community is dependent on us for excellent healthcare. Our futures are intertwined — and volunteer programs can serve as a vital link to creating the workforce of the future.
Our goal is to show high school students they can find a rewarding career at Backus Hospital, one that will be challenging and rewarding financially as well as professionally. And what do you mean, “We are in the middle of nowhere?” We’re within reasonable driving distance to New York and Boston — a short six-hour flight from San Francisco and Paris! We are the center of it all!
Please join me in welcoming this year’s crop of junior volunteers. We should all welcome them, and embrace them, because, after all, one day, they may be taking are of us!
Mary Rahaim is the Director of Volunteer Services at The William W. Backus Hospital.
Email Ms. Rahaim and all the Healthy Living columnists at healthyliving@wwbh.org. To comment on this or other Healthy Living columns, click below or go to the Healthy Living blog at www.backushospital.org/backus-blogs.
# posted by ----------------- @ 9:21 AM 
