Nabila Dinarsakti

08/12/16
Internship #1: WAH
Personal Reflection Essay
When I got the call from the volunteer coordinator a few months ago saying that I was
accepted into the volunteer program at Washington Adventist hospital, I was ecstatic. Because I
had decided to pursue a premedical degree in college, volunteering at a hospital was the perfect
opportunity to get used to a Hospital environment. Although I did not get to work in patient care,
working in the volunteer office helped me in deciding my future as well as gave me insight into
what goes on behind the scenes.
The volunteer office consists of two full time employees: the director, Catina, and the
volunteer supervisor/coordinator, Roxanne. The volunteer office also takes up to two volunteers
to help with the clerical work. The office usually deals with all the new and returning volunteers,
as well as shadowing opportunities and a focused based volunteering program called the Stepping Stones Program.
When I first started, I was one of two volunteers who came in. At the time, I was assigned
to do paper work. I printed over 300 copies of volunteer copies and made over a hundred folders
for orientation. I was surprised at all the paper that was being used up, as well as how busy the
office was. Every day I came in, I was always given a task to do. By the time I came home, I felt
that I had completed a full school days worth of work despite only working four hours. This
made me think about how we underestimate how much work people do behind the scenes to
keep the system running smoothly.

During my third week of volunteering, my supervisor had gone on break and I was alone
in the office. It was the week of the June orientation so I had a lot to do. I was running around the
office making sure that all the new volunteers information was in our database and that they had
all the required documents in their folders. I had to call a few people to remind them to bring
their documents to orientation. When orientation day came, a few unexpected people showed up
and I even had to interview a new volunteer. It was a very interesting experience because I had to
make a lot of the decisions myself and I was responsible for many of the new volunteers.
I thought that my next few weeks would be more relaxed since orientation was over but
that was absolutely not the case at all. I had to learn to work with a new person as well as place
forty people into different departments. I called the new volunteers in the following week to have
an interview with their supervisor. Alhamdullilah, that same week we got everyone placed; however, my job was not over yet. The next week my director asked us to start scheduling interviews
with people for the July orientation. I can recall one very interesting experience while I was
scheduling the interviews.
As a general rule, new volunteers are to bring in a recent PPD or Tuberculosis test, one
that was done within the last six months, along with all their immunizations from birth. One of
the prospective volunteers had an recent PPD done, but not her immunizations. When asked to
bring one in, she claimed that the hospital she was born in no longer existed. We suggested that
she talk to her current physician to see if she had any records, however, when she called back,
she was frustrated and angry. She said that her physicians had none of her records and proceeded
to curse us out and use foul language to express her frustration. This incident made me learn to
be more patient and made it more clear to me that people will do things that are unpleasant. It

also taught me to stand up for myself and to never take abuse. My experience at WAH was very
eye opening and interesting and Im glad I had the opportunity to volunteer in the Volunteer Office.