Duke Raleigh

Some people enjoy giving their time to volunteering and helping others. During this summer, I worked at Duke Raleigh Hospital and helped work with patients. While there, I helped in same-day surgery and in pre-testing. Both of these areas of work were life changing and truly have given me a different perspective of how a hospital works and functions as a whole.

In same-day surgery, I took care of patients by helping them find certain places in the hospital and keeping the main lobby of the hospital in order. When I was there, I was able to bond with the staff and the certain patients that I came in contact with. This helped me to be able to appreciate how much these people loved having me work with them. Many of the people were amazed that I, being a teenager, was giving my time to help the people, expecting nothing in return.

In pre-testing, I helped escort people from the lobby to the testing rooms on the third floor. Although I was able to meet new people by helping patients, the nurses were what made my experience so enjoyable. They were extremely organized and good at getting the patients through the tests, yet they were also very fun and enjoyable to work with. They without a doubt showed how a good hospital should function.

Working at Duke Raleigh was one of the greatest parts of my summer, without a doubt. The staff there was able to show me how a patient should be treated and how a hospital should function. They were able to show that hard work does not mean that fun cannot be involved and that patients, regardless of how difficult they were, should be treated with the utmost respect. I will never forget working at Duke and I honestly hope that I am able to work there again some time soon.