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One of the most significant parts of my college career was my work on Saturday nights as a volunteer in the Cambridge City Hospital emergency room. I remember many of those nights more clearly than I remember a lot of my course work. And I probably learned as much on Saturday night as during the week.
No, I wasn't a pre med; I was just another set of hands in a busy hospital that had a limited staff. The work was occasionally slow, more often frantic. Often the work was routine-name, age, address, complaint-and just as often exciting-an auto accident with injuries, a gun shot wound, a bad house fire, a heart attack, a murder victim. My job was to record information, provide information, try to calm and comfort, and help lift, turn, restrain, or move patients.
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I learned a lot as a hospital volunteer. I learned about first aid. I saw frequently the results of thoughtless accidents, careless driving, alcohol abuse, and physical violence. I learned that doctors may not know the answer. I learned a fair bit about our socially stratified health care system. I learned first hand in l956 that poor people without a doctor come to the hospital emergency room-perhaps for routine care, but also when a health issue long ignored becomes an emergency.
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"I remember many of those nights more clearly than I remember a lot of my course work." |
From my perspective my service as a volunteer gave me just about the equivalent of introductory courses in urban sociology and medical sociology. I helped an emergency room staff that at times was stretched very thin. And I like to think that I helped a lot of people who were anxious and in pain. Not bad for one or two nights a week. Get involved, and help.
Jim Davis
Professor
Political Science
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