For anyone who has a little spare time on their hands, a caring heart, and who is looking for a way to "give back", I highly recommend volunteering. I became a volunteer about a year ago and have found that what they say about it is true: it really is a rewarding experience.
I devote about four hours or so every Thursday to the Occupational Medicine Department of a local hospital. My duties are varied but neither difficult nor strenuous. I answer the phone, type up prescriptions, file patient charts, copy important documents, create patient files, greet patients, decorate the office for holidays, make sure our candy dish is always filled with suckers, and I water the office plants. However, out of all the duties that I have in the office, the one that I like best is preparing packages for delivery to Third World countries. We send off just about any medical supply that you can think of: syringes, saline and glucose solutions, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, cotton coils and gauze strips and pads, linen and pillows, towels and toiletry items, and things I've never heard of and cannot properly spell. Unfortunately, these shipments are not made on a daily or even on a weekly basis; in fact, we probably only get to send them out every couple of months or so. Still, when it's time to make the shipments my Thursdays always shine a little brighter.
