Providence Mission Hospital offers a competitive volunteer program for high schoolers interested in the medical field. The program provides students with the opportunity to work alongside medical professionals and explore their curiosity within the medical field.
The hospital provides hands-on experience and insights to all volunteers involved. Students are able to familiarize themselves with a hospital setting, work alongside professionals, and gain knowledge and skills viable to the medical field. This prestigious hospital is ranked number 1 in South Orange County, and ranked 15th in the state of California.
“There’s no other hospital in our area that offers some kind of program like this, ultimately Province gives you an experience where you get a lot of volunteer hours, and it just goes to show that the extra work you put in makes a difference,” said Vice President of operations and third year volunteer, Sidharth Gaikwad (11).
Due to being ranked so highly within the county, let alone the state, this program has shown to be highly selective among its applicants. With the program proven to be very competitive, the application process for individuals who are interested is not easy.
“It was very extensive, we had to submit an application with one essay, and then you had to do an interview and some paperwork. It took a few months to get accepted and then to finally start training,” said a second year volunteer Sadie Parsons (11).
The program welcomes students from all over Orange County, which gives students the opportunity to meet people outside of their community who share the same interests.
“You create such a close connection with your other peers as well, who are like minded individuals who have the same goals as you in making an impact on your community,” said Gaikwad.
Once accepted, students must attend a mandatory four hour general orientation meeting, complete three weeks of general training, and have an additional two weeks of specific training in the department for which they were assigned to. Students selected are given the choice of 6 departments to choose from to pursue in the program. When completed, volunteers must contribute a minimum of 4 hours of service a week in their department.
Parsons works in Mealmates which is a department where she helps deliver meals to patients, restock the cafeteria, and work alongside professionals in the dietary department.
“I get the most freedom in the hospital, I get to go to all the different floors and see a lot of different things happening, it has opened my eyes,” said Parsons.
As Vice President of operations, Gaikwad manages deliveries, people with non-emergency issues, dischargement of patients, scheduling for the hospital, disciplinary actions, and program applicants.
“These experiences, especially at Providence Mission Hospital, have been the biggest impact that I can make to a local community, that’s something super important and that’s a core value for me,” said Gaikwad.
The program is an excellent way for students to familiarize themselves with the hospital, but the program offers the opportunity for students to work alongside medical professionals.
“You can see how their (the doctors) daily life is affected by the patients, and all the hardships and how difficult it is to take care of some patients,” said volunteer in the Maternity Department, Ava Deramos (11).
The students who are a part of this program contribute not just to helping the hospital, but also contribute to making a difference within the community.
“It has made a large impact on my local community and it’s crazy to think that I can make a similar impact by doing small actions, and I know some small actions might be minimal, but to other people they are large impacts on them,” said Gaikwad.
