Observing and Reporting Surroundings at a VA Medical Center

Experiential Exercise: Observing and Reporting Surroundings at a VA Medical Center To satisfy the requirements of this assignment, the author recently volunteered at a local Department of Veterans Affairs medical center (VAMC) and the results of this experience are related below. Date and address of where the experience took place October XYZ, 20XX, in Anytown, Ohio. Length of time you were there Four hours (including lunch).

Brief description of the setting The VAMC visited for this assignment is a major tertiary healthcare facility that provides medical, surgical, dental and mental health services to eligible veterans in its catchment area. The volunteer services department is located on the VAMC's first floor, immediately inside the main entrance. A young female receptionist behind a glass window greets volunteers with and without appointments, but a sign below the window recommends making an appointment to ensure volunteers' services are needed on a specific date.

Besides this young staff member, though, virtually all of the other staff members and volunteers are elderly, ranging in apparent age from age 60 years and over. The volunteer services offices are decorated with military and veteran-themed posters, a few plants and magazines and some seedy office furniture and equipment that were in need of replacement. The assignments received during my 4-hour shift as a volunteer included pushing veterans in wheelchairs from one point in the large facility to another and performing some routine filing duties in the administrative office.

Although volunteers at the VAMC are unpaid, they receive a free lunch at the snack bar and the clear gratitude of staff members, veterans and their family members. Your reaction to the situation in terms of your behavior/feelings To be brutally honest, my first reaction to the wounded warriors I saw trying to navigate their way through a busy parking lot in wheelchairs and on crutches made me cringe.

Even the smell of the facility upon entry was unpleasant, and I wanted to execute an about face and try something else. Nevertheless, I had made an appointment and had been assured my help was needed that day so I marched on to the volunteer window where I presented myself for duty.

My first assignment of the day was to push a young veteran in a wheelchair from a surgical ward on the medical center's third floor to the X-ray department in another wing on the second floor, wait for him to finish, and return him to his room. As we started down the hallway, my next reaction was just how noble I was being in donating my enormously valuable time for such a worthwhile cause, that is, until I began chatting with my veteran charge.

It turns out he was recently discharged from the U.S. Army after two tours in Afghanistan where he received a severe traumatic brain injury and two broken legs from an improvised explosive device during his last tour of duty.

While we waited for his turn in the X-ray department, this veteran talked cheerfully about how "they might be able to save my right leg" and went on to boast about his pretty wife and two "perfect" young sons at home who were being very supportive in spite of the significant changes his injuries caused to their home life.

My former feelings of nobility were quickly replaced by pity for this young man, which was quickly replaced by admiration and bewilderment that anyone could face such daunting circumstances and still remain cheerful about it. My brief conversations with other veterans during my 4-hour shift were likewise revealing, and made me feel ashamed that I ever felt any nobility in sacrificing so little of myself in view of the enormity of the sacrifices that were made by these veterans.

The reaction of the other individuals toward you Not only were the staff members at the volunteer services offices cordial and expansive in their thanks for my brief stint as a VAMC volunteer, the veterans were uniformly cheerful and grateful for everything people, including me, were doing for them. During lunch at the snack bar, my fellow volunteers were also friendly and shared some of their more memorable experiences with me.

What this experience teaches you about being different from others in your environment Volunteering at this VAMC was a truly humbling experience that drove home a valuable lesson that other people may have profound problems, including physical and mental disabilities, which can adversely affect their quality of life in a wide range of ways. As a result of this experience, I have tried to avoid forming first impressions that may not reflect any of the full range.