Tales from a teenage volunteer
My name is Alexander Bhargava, and I am a 15-year-old student. I had the great chance to volunteer at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Palo Alto over the course of this summer, and I wanted to share my wonderful experience with others in hopes to interest other students to volunteer in a hospital setting.
I was interested in volunteering at a hospital because both of my parents work in hospitals, and I wanted to see what the experience was after hearing them talk about it. More specifically, I wanted to work at VA because the mission of VA is “to serve those who served” and it really resonated with me.
I was thrilled to be accepted into the VA program, and throughout this summer break I’ve spent around 110 hours volunteering at VA Palo Alto in varying departments. I spent my initial time in Pulmonary Service and got a basic introduction into how a hospital clinic works. From there I worked in other departments, which included escorting Veterans to their appointments, and working in food services to help with meal preparation for hospitalized Veterans.
In every department I went to I felt welcomed and valued. After these initial experiences, I asked to work in the Office of Information Technology (OIT) as I am interested in computers, and I wanted to see how they are used in a hospital setting.
I had a great experience in the Office of Information Technology. Nee Cho introduced me to the whole team. The entire office was very welcoming, and even on my first day I felt part of the team. I had great conversations with Thien, and I went all over the hospital with Gordon.
The thing I enjoyed the most was visiting several clinics in VA with my supervisor, and I was able to observe first-hand the use of computers and technology in patient care and how important they are.
For the first time, I saw physicians and clinicians working with patients. As a kid growing up around electronics and computers, I’ve always been inclined to say that technology is the greatest tool that humankind has ever created and I still stand by that, but at the end of the day, technology remains a tool and cannot replace the human interaction in health care.
My experience volunteering at VA can be summarized into one word: eye-opening. Throughout my whole life I have been exposed to health care, from both my parents being physicians and my health problems, but I have never actually been on the other side of the glass, so to speak. What I valued most about my experience was the ability to see what it's like to help people. I want to continue volunteering at VA because I believe that there is no other experience that can be as fulfilling as working in a hospital that treats Veterans.