VC vacation

Hello dear blog readers,

I am writing this to you from the library of Carnival’s ship Destiny as we cruise towards Ocho Rios. 
 Keeping in format with this blog being about volunteer education let me share how this works.

At the start of the trip I purchase Internet minutes with the goal of having all the minutes I desire
 WITHOUT having to buy another package.  I write the blog and or an e-mail off line and then copy
and paste it where I want it once I have everything organized.  This saves lots of minutes as I don’t
have to waste them while I am thinking of just the right way to compose my sentences.

Now enough with the teaching, THIS IS VACATION, and I am having a very nice time as the pictures
 will attest.  As I write this it is one o’clock and already today we have run six miles on the
outdoor track, ate breakfast, laid out in the sun for awhile, played a game of euchre, relaxed in the
sauna, showered, now I’m getting this blog ready to post, and then it will be time to eat again.

This afternoon we are taking a fitness boot camp that brags it will easily burn 700 calories.  Do you
think that is enough to have two deserts for dinner?

Dreams DO Come True...

We have a patient on caseload right now that owned and rode motorcycles in his younger days.  One day, he was talking with his nurse and mentioned to him that  "he knows he can no longer ride a motorcycle himself but he sure would like to take a ride in a sidecar."  That remark made its way back to our office and as volunteer coordinator I knew that one of our regular volunteers worked at a bike shop.  I contacted her and put her on the lookout for a sidecar.  A couple of days later, out of the blue, into the bike shop parking lot rode a guy with a sidecar attached to his bike!  What are the chances of that without the help of some divine intervention?  Our volunteer ask him if he would be willing to help us make the patient's dream come true.  He told her that he would be happy to,  and once our social worker got all the consent forms signed we sat a date for the ride.

The day before the ride my volunteer sent me a text and ask what I thought about asking the newspaper to come out and cover the story.  I told her that I had called the paper, left a message,  but had not heard back, and thought it would be wonderful if they covered the story.  She told me she would send them an e-mail request.  DUH!  I guess my age is showing as it never even occurred to me to send an e-mail.  Thank goodness for young volunteers because the paper responded to her e-mail and agreed to come out and cover the story.  How wonderful is that?

The morning of the ride arrived and several of our staff were able to come to the facility to join in on the fun.  Our patient was a little shy at all the attention but when he saw the bike and sidecar he couldn't move fast enough to get into it.  His hospice nurse assisted him into the sidecar, and my volunteer helped him to put on a helmet and off he went.  After the driver road him around for a bit he stopped and ask our patient how he was doing?  Our patient's reply, "Well, I could ride more, but I think they are expecting us back soon," so back they came.
Several days after the event our patient was still talking about the wonderful time he had.  What a blessing it was to be able to make this wish a reality, and that was not the only blessing of the day.

In the month of July we had lost a more than normal number of patients, and the entire staff needed a little joy to raise spirits.  Having the newspaper come and cover the story, and be featured in the local paper was exactly what the doctor ordered!  It was so terrific to not only make our patient feel special, but to have the spotlight on the good things we do as part of our daily jobs.  A fabulous pat on the back that buoyed us all up and helped us heal from the loss of some really special patients.

Many thanks for the willingness of my volunteer to go the extra mile to help the team fulfill this patient's wish.  This absolutely would not have happened without her.   I am so fortunate to have the best team of volunteers ever assembled.  Each one has special talents and gifts and willingly shares them to make a huge difference in our patients lives.