TSRHC junior volunteer is thankful for her recent experiences
Shivi Sharma (front row, third from left), served as a junior volunteer at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
Shivi Sharma, the daughter of Dr. Sushma Sharma, the DFW Hospital Council Foundation’s director of population health research, posted this blog on her recent experiences serving as a junior volunteer at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children in Dallas.
I was a Junior Volunteer for the Bernice and Bruderson Meyers Program at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC) for two summers. I’ve done everything from working the popcorn stand in the Atrium, greeting patient families at the front desk, setting up the Annual Book Sale, pushing the mail cart around the hospital, and more. Due to COVID-19, I and a number of other Junior Volunteers will not be able to volunteer at TSRHC this summer. It’s a necessary measure, but definitely an experience I’ll miss being a part of.
Every time I have walked into the hospital, whether it’s to get my annual tuberculosis test or attend volunteer orientation or starting a day of volunteering, seeing the bright walls and colorful atmosphere almost always puts me in a good mood. You wouldn’t expect a hospital to feel inviting or welcoming, but the look and buzzing atmosphere of TSRHC does. Although I was given the superlative ‘most likely to get lost in the hospital,’ its elevator system, spacious windows looking out at Dallas, and people who were always willing to point me in the right direction quickly became comforting parts of my routine.
The enthusiasm of each and every employee and volunteer I’ve come across, whether that’s the woman down in the mail room who never failed to make me laugh, the iconic German chef who prepares custom pasta dishes for a long line of people every day at lunch in the TSRHC Cafe (the line is always worth it, believe me), or Junior Volunteer coordinator Jennifer Brooks, who never fails to be organized and efficient during day-to-day operations, have made my experience unique.
I want to thank each of them and every Junior and Adult Volunteer I’ve worked with at the hospital that made my days volunteering there ones I won’t forget.