Experiential Exercise: Observing and Reporting Surroundings at a VA Medical CenterTo 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...
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…
