Service through the eyes of a "SERVEr"
Blog 10/7We watched a movie in class recently about four young men who went to Guatemala planning to live on just one dollar a day for about 60 days. I had expected to watch this movie and not get a different opinion, or maybe I just didn’t think about it enough, but I hadn’t expected to change my opinion of going abroad. We’ve talked about it if it’s worth it to go away when you’re choosing a service project. The four guys definitely learned about the place they were in, but they didn’t really do much service, that wasn’t their main goal going in, but the trip seemed entirely based on themselves. There didn’t seem to be a problem being addressed, other than curiosity, and for this reason I wonder if their trip can be considered productive. Maybe that’s not what they were going for, but it was mentioned that they planned to tour the country talking about their experience. This could be productive and informative, but their entire initiative seems like it’s personal and wasn’t based around relaying information. Yes, they made a video, yes, they shared this with the world in such a way that it found its way to Netflix. However, I thought there was opportunity to spread the word on more specific issues. They talked about the lack of education and the financial struggles of many of the people there, and touched on the healthcare system. I liked the movie overall, it was eye-opening and gave me a new perspective. However, it could have been improved if they explained ways others can help, or if they brought issues that effect the whole of Guatemala, instead of just the issues that effected them.
Blog 11/30For the past few months, I’ve been volunteering at Virginia Tech Adult Day Services. When I go to ADS every Wednesday, I help with chores and spend time with the participants, most of whom have some form of dementia. As sad as it is, I observe the participants decreasing in mental capacity more so each week I attend. My job is to keep their minds off this decline, if they are even aware, and try to improve their days and thus their quality of life. While I’ve been involved in elderly care before, and have seen declines, I’ve only ever personally witnessed physical decline, not mental. While both are difficult to watch, mental declines strike me as more upsetting. But, this newfound observation has made me even more interested in elderly care, specifically focused on mental diseases. Medicine has come so far, but there is still so much we don’t know. While I’m not sure elderly care is the branch of medicine I want to go into, experiences like the ones I’ve had at ADS grow my interest in medicine and my passion for it. There are so many sad and difficult parts of working with the geriatric population, but as hard as it is to witness, I can’t imagine being in their position.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to continue volunteering at ADS next semester and ideally the semesters that follow. The issue facing the participants at ADS is dementia, yes, but if there was more research on the issue and thus better treatments, and maybe even a cure, these people wouldn’t be faced with the challenges they deal with every day. There are so many things left to be discovered and tested, and there are so many possible careers, research points, and volunteer opportunities in this field. Because of this service, I am becoming more interested in my chosen field and in the many variables of geriatric care. Service ReflectionFor the last several weeks I’ve been volunteering at Virginia Tech Adult Day Services, ADS, by spending time with the elderly that attend the program. While I originally started because of my experience at a nursing home, I have come to see that this service reflects my desire to go into the medical field. I have learned more about people and how best to take care of them, and this has had a very positive impact on me. When I’m at ADS, I help the field study students and nurses with coordinating lunches, talk with the participants, and do activities with them. I see my impact when the participants seem to be enjoying themselves, and when I make their day even just a little better. They all have some mental disability, most of them dementia, and making their day better is extremely rewarding. I’ve always liked the elderly population, but spending time with them every week has made me see their struggles more clearly. I can’t imagine how scary it must be to constantly forget where you are and what’s happening, and because of situations like these I’m growing even more passionate about helping them. I plan to volunteer at ADS next semester and hopefully for my remaining three years at Virginia Tech.
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Change Lab ReflectionOur Change Lab topic was equal treatment in the classroom in regards to kids with special conditions and disabilities. I was out sick the day my group picked our topic, but I know Jill is passionate about the issue, and she has background knowledge. We then explored our stakeholders, and this lead us to the people we believe need to be around the table for a discussion like this. After talking about this, we began to see some more issues than before. The “big questions” lead us to see more of the smaller, more finite issues which helped us find our final vision of goals and success.
In a project like this, I feel like it is very valuable for one or more people in the group to have personal and previous knowledge of the topic. Even if only one person has the passion and cares deeply about the issue, their excitement can help drive the group by showing them why the issue is so important. Jill’s previous knowledge helped to keep us asking questions and looking deeper, and played an important role in the final product. Passion for the issue is what really makes these kinds of projects work, and what can really make them come alive. For example, Mackenzie’s personal connection to her friend with a disability really grabbed me, and made me more interested in their presentation as a whole. Our topics were similar, but her group had a whole slide dedicated to her friend, and this alone spoke to me about how passionate she was, and how involved their presentation was. Our group connected with theirs because our topics were similar, but also because some of our personal connections aligned with theirs, and I thought that was really cool. We have people in class from Hawaii, California, and all over the east coast, yet we have so much in common-this blows my mind even at the end of a whole semester with these people. There were a few things that came up during this project that left me with new perspectives. It was frustrating when we came to the realization that there may be many people working on this issue, all with different backgrounds, and these differences can be conflicting. There are professionals that get multiple degrees in fields that deal with kids, specifically those with special needs, and they certainly know a lot about their subjects. It must be frustrating to have parents tell you that they know all about their child’s condition, when the professional has done research and taken classes on it. I’m sure parents do research and talk to other parents of kids with similar conditions, but they’ve never been formally educated on it. They don’t know the right way to handle each case and, as a professional, it is completely reasonable to think that you know better than them. This may seem like an obvious statement, but what about the parent’s side? They have been there since the minute their child came into the world. They helped them take their first steps, “mom” or “dad” could have been the first word they spoke. As a parent you’re there everyday, in and out, without fail. You see everything and know your child’s personality so well-so how could some professional come in and tell you differently? How could they think that they know every meaning behind your child’s mannerisms, and how could they think they could understand the kind of person they are? These two sides conflict, and that is the real issue. This is the part that gets me-the two best parties to develop the best action plan for a child can disagree. Why can’t we take the professional knowledge, along with the observations and knowledge of personality and combine them? Wouldn’t this ultimately give the most beneficial outcome? There are so many possible positive outcomes for the child in question if these parties are to work together, and isn’t that why these people are all around the table in the first place? One tricky thing our group came across was the reality that the plans we might be making today won’t benefit children in the future. Right now, we see the problems that are currently at hand and those that have shown up in the past, but how are we to see what will be happening in the future? It’s almost like we’re working against time-we don’t know what’s coming, and what we’ll have to work on in the future, but we’re going to keep working. We address the issues at hand and tailor our approaches based on what arises as we’re working, but this can seem counterproductive. However, if we were to just halt all progress on one issue when another arises, we would really get nothing done. What’s important is to keep going, keep working, keep putting in all we have so these kids who did nothing wrong to deserve their conditions can have better and more fulfilling lives. Moreover, each child is different, even children who have the same conditions. I’ve met multiple young adults with Downs Syndrome, and while there are undeniable similarities between them (one I’ve found in each is unending love for the people around them), they are all unique human beings, and I believe this is often forgotten. Even when you have disabilities, you’re only in the school system for so long, so why not make these years some of the best? As Mackenzie’s group mentioned, it’s really hard for kids with disabilities to get jobs after high school, and these years, I would imagine, won’t be as enjoyable as those spent in school. When we started with this project, I’m not sure I had initial expectations, but whatever they were, they’re not what I found to be true. I’ve become more educated and interested in the issues surrounding the challenges these individuals face everyday. I didn’t expect to have a project spark my interest like it did, but this topic, like many things from class, has impacted my view of service. It’s saddening to know that this issue is great enough to make into a PSA, and I think that’s what really got to me. I wish this wasn’t an issue, because these individuals do their best and still don’t get the same things out of a classroom setting. But, like every issue, wishing won’t make it go away. Dedication and hard work help to improve issues, as I’ve found very few completely go away. Nonetheless, there is much to be done, many ways to do it, and many, many, people that can be positively effected by work on this social issue. |