helping to select volunteers for the program. She described the agenda for a typical volunteer shift. “The volunteer checks in at the front desk, and engages in tasks that involve calling for patient reminders, calling for next-day appointments, faxing, organizing, pulling charts and generally completing any task that needs to be done,” White said. “Once that’s finished, we move to the nurses’ station, where we help organize their charts, restock their rooms, and clean up their stations. The second hour also allows the student to shadow a physician, but requires that the student continue to help with tasks the nurses or doctors might need completed. Doing this allows student volunteers to gain insight into the daily tasks of a family physician.
Photo Credit: Lauren Roller
Andrew Sayers, who helped start the volunteer program, is now the co-director. “It’s important for pre-med students to be exposed to the medical environment before they go to medical school,” Sayers said. “As a pre-med student, you are struggling for a place to get plugged into that is associated with health. It not only looks good on your resume when you’re applying to medical school, but it’s a great experience.” With the current demand for family physicians, one of the goals of the volunteer program is to get pre-med students interested in family medicine. By exposing students to the family medicine environment, the program’s creators hope it will motivate students to reach long-term goals of becoming involved in the medical field. Simultaneously, they hope it will inspire interest in family medicine. The students involved with the clinic take away positive experiences that change their own outlook on the practice of family medicine. “The Family Health Center has really changed my entire perspective on medicine, by seeing what these people do and how they serve changed my concept of the type of doctor I want to be and how I serve my patients,” White said. “It’s made a huge impact. Having the opportunity to serve these doctors has been one of my favorite things because they have given me so much, especially the understanding that medicine is truly a service.” Those involved in the program eventually hope to expand it by pairing up with other Family Health Care clinic locations around Waco. “Our hopes and goals for the program would be to make volunteers available to all the satellite Family Health Center clinics in Waco,” Sayers said. “Just like Alpha Epsilon Delta is paired with the South 18th Clinic, MSO [Medical Service Organization] and other pre-health organizations can partner with other FHC clinics around [Waco].”