Well I said I'd post some highlights of my time in Ann Arbor & it's taking me til now! Lately I've been missing it & would go back in a heartbeat!
My favorite place to work was Mott Children's Hospital. It only moved into it's new building in December 2011 so everything was still quite new! Lots of colored lights & colored designs on the floor, & big bird to greet you at one entrance all made it very much a place dedicated to children. We volunteered in the Childlife program on 7th & 12th floor. Basically we would play with the children in the playroom or in their rooms or rock a baby. Some rooms required mask,gown & gloves & that was how you would play all afternoon! We also made big colorful name signs for their rooms whenever we didn't have any children to help with...7th floor was the oncology floor & my personal favorite...it also tore at your heart...all these children that would be there for weeks..the children, families & Childlife staff bonded like family on this floor especially. Many were in there over & over so you would get to know them. I had my favorites! They say not to get personally attatched to them but how can't you?! One little 3 year old boy would come hang out in the playroom every morn while his mom got ready for the day then she would come in & often we would end up visiting awhile..another little 6 year old boy was diagnosed the day before I arrived in Ann Arbor & went into remission just weeks before I came home. I spent a morning with him "shooting zombies" with an empty Nerf gun, & "changing tires, etc." on a wooden firetruck...the more you can go with their imagination the more fun they (& you!) had! Another little girl was there from Saudi Arabia maybe? She could only speak broken English but her expressive eyes told us so much...12th floor was just general care & I loved it too! This is wear we would sometime get to hold the darling babies! The poor babes often had a trache or were on some breathing machine, heart monitor, feeding tubes, IVs, etc. But you could still cuddle them! & once in awhile we could give them their bottle! A favorite their were twin girls around 2lbs at birth...when I held the one she was 50-60 days & just over 5lbs I think but still o so tiny & sweet! We also sometimes got to help out in the gift shop over in Mott...that was always fun too!
We had 2 coffee carts we took around to waiting rooms. One was in University & Taubman Center (a clinic center) & the other was in Cancer Center where we did all the waiting rooms & also the infusion rooms...one thing that was very impressive over in Cancer Center was how cheerful so many people were..& they were not going through an easy time in their lives..I really enjoyed doing drink cart over there & the people we met..We also sang there one morning a week...
Candy Cart was just that! A cart full of candy, snacks & magazines for sale that we took to waiting rooms & in the afternoons to patient rooms...was also an enjoyable job where you met many people!
In the cardiovascular center we had one floor where just my roomie & i worked! We LOVED it! we had a couple nourishment rooms we cleaned, blanket warmers to restock,isolation carts to clean & restock, copiers to fill with paper & any other odd jobs they needed us to do!We also sang here once a week...
That's the highlights of the main jobs! We also did wayfinding, helping out in the volenteer services office, helping make folders in the CVC medical library, & helping out in the giftshops...seems they could always find more for us to do!
Over all the 6 months flew by! It was a very enjoyable & rewarding time...I think a little piece of me will always be in the hospital there...I LOVED THAT PLACE!!
