Rockwood Center (Wallace medical center).
Food PantriesUsually every Monday and Wednesday I would volunteer from 9am-12pm. I would make phone calls from call list of patients who are interested in getting free groceries. Both English and Spanish patients. If they agree on receiving free groceries, I would send them a list of food pantries in the East Portland, Rockwood, and Gresham area to their house. Some of these food pantries are built like groceries where families can pick out the food they want or need. The family can also have a grocery store experience.
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Diabetes Support GroupEvery other month there is a Diabetes Support Group. One in Spanish and one in English. It's a free class where they can receive advice from Doctors on how to manage their diabetes. The class also provides free snacks, glucose meter, and a hba1c check up. The Spanish Diabetes Support Group happened last month in February. The English Diabetes Support Group just happened yesterday, March 7th.
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ResultsVolunteering isn't just making phone and telling patients about resources. It's about the patients receiving resources that would benefit them. The goal for the Diabetes Support Group is that at least 20 patients attend. For two weeks, we would make phone calls letting Spanish patients how important it is for them to attend the Diabetes Support Group. The day of the Spanish Diabetes Support Group 25 patients attended. 5 over the goal. It was a sign of relief that I'm actually doing a good job. The next goal was to get to 20 patients come to the English Diabetes Support Group. The snow storm in the middle of February delayed making phone calls for another week. I was only able to make phone calls with just one week of volunteering compared with 2-3 weeks I would for the Spanish Diabetes Support Group. I was only to get about 3 confirmations for the English Support Group.
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Aftermath
After the Diabetes Support Group we asked ourself, now what? What happens to the patients after they leave the Diabetes Support Group. Do the patients still get regular check up? Are they going to be more class helping patients manage their diabetes? All my questions were answered once they formed a mediation class every Tuesday at 4:00pm. It's a new class that just started that gives more methods on how patients can manage their diabetes. Tuesday's is the Spanish and English is still to be determined.
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reflection
At first when I started volunteered for Wallace Medical Center I just did because I needed 30 hours to complete. Also it's a five minutes drive from my house. I can wake up 15 minutes before 9am and still make in time. Once I started volunteering I saw how much help the community needed. It gave me an urgency that I must help out the community. The Wallace Medical Center isn't about the individual doing the best job but the community helping each other out. I enjoy myself going to Wallace Medical Center knowing that I'm giving patient resources to food pantries and diabetes support groups. Volunteering isn't about doing the necessary 30 hours to complete your senior capstone or getting a opportunity that's just five minutes away from my house (shout out Krista Escobar). It's about helping others in improving the community. Knowing you can give hope mothers and their children that the future is bright. Letting them know their is help out there regardless of class, race, sexuality, and gender. Moving forward after this senior capstone I will still be volunteering at least once a day for about three hours. I want to leave Portland knowing that I helped out the community that I lived for two years and something to put on my resume.