Takoma Regional Hospital welcomes young people ages 14-18 to participate in the summer Junior volunteer program. The experience is personally rewarding, but, perhaps more important, it helps individuals to make career and educational choices that may guide their lives. In addition, documentation of the volunteer hours adds credibility to college and job applications.
What is required of a junior volunteer?
Junior volunteers are required to volunteer a minimum of 4 hours a week (exceptions will be made for family vacations and summer camps—but we expect those hours to be made up in other weeks). Juniors will be placed in various departments throughout the hospital. Their function is to observe and to relieve professional staff of non-clinical tasks so that they can perform their jobs more efficiently. Volunteers will discover what it is like to work in the hospital setting, and they will develop relationships with mentors who may guide them in making choices about school and career paths.
The Junior volunteer program officially lasts 10 weeks—and we require the equivalent of 4 hours volunteer time a week, plus the mandatory 4 hours spent in orientation. . . a minimum of 44 hours by August 3, 2012.
How do I become a junior volunteer?
In order to become a junior volunteer, the student must submit an application and a copy of his or her immunization record to the volunteer department and make an appointment for an interview with the Volunteer Director for an interview. Applications will be available at the switchboard, at all five high schools, and online at www.takoma.org. The application may be downloaded from this website and mailed or hand-carried to the Volunteer Department in the Everett and Carolyn Coolidge Volunteer Conference Center at the intersection of Coolidge Street and Takoma Avenue. Please call (423) 798-8136 for an appointment with Renee Lowery.
After the interview, the applicant is required to have a physical at Greeneville Urgent Care and Occupational Medicine (paid for by the hospital).
When does the program begin?
Orientation day for the summer program is Thursday, May 24, 2012, from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in the Everett and Carolyn Coolidge Volunteer Conference Center. Attendance is mandatory; juniors who are unable to attend will not be able to participate in the program this summer. At that meeting, juniors will receive training about hospital safety and the responsibilities of volunteers. Their work schedule for the summer will be set up. No student can begin work without having completed the physical, submitted immunization records, attended the orientation, and had a photo ID made. Each student will be expected to keep his or her own time sheet and report volunteer hours to the Volunteer Director at the end of each month.
Additional benefits to junior volunteers in the summer program are an optional field trip to ETSU’s Quillen Medical school and an optional CPR class.
When does the program end?
The program ends Aug. 3. The awards/recognition luncheon will be held at noon in the Everett and Carolyn Coolidge Volunteer Conference Center. Parents and family are invited to attend. Those juniors having volunteered 44 hours or more will be recognized with a Junior Volunteer pin. Any junior achieving the benchmark of 100 hours will receive an additional gift.
During the School Year--
We do take students during the school year. They must use the same application process, but they can work only 2 hours per school day while school is in session.