A New Mentality By Nick Perone, ’03
For the next few days I hesitantly inched my way outside my comfort zone. I spent a lot of time with patients playing board games, reading books and, many times, just talking. I also helped plan events and, of course, did quite a bit of writing. After a few weeks, I became completely at ease and, frankly, felt guilty for being anxious in the beginning. I realized that all my fears and preconceived notions were just plain silly. By the end I had gotten to know some of the patients well, and this made it hard when they left. It was difficult not only because they were gone, but also because I knew they didn’t have anywhere to go. Scarce resources often meant patients would have to leave before they were ready. Working at the hospital made the connection between mental illness and homelessness painfully obvious to me. When the semester and my time at the hospital came to an end, my connection to the people I met didn’t. I’ll never forget the experience. More importantly, I’ll never be able to overlook homeless people like I did before. I realized that as a society we all have a responsibility to take care of each other. That’s what I like so much about St. Edward’s — no matter what class I take, I know it will be about more than just memorizing facts. All the classes teach about our responsibility to society and the importance of service. In a way, we’re all studying the same things; we’re all discovering what’s important to us. Looking back, I can’t help but see the irony. Just two weeks before I began volunteering at the hospital, I had changed my major from psychology to English writing and rhetoric. What are the odds my first English class would have me volunteering at a psychiatric hospital? Maybe pretty good — at St. Edward’s anyway. JON PATTILLO
When the director said we’d need vaccinations, I looked up from my paper with wide eyes. But when she warned us about the patients biting us, I searched for the exit sign. Questions stampeded through my mind: What am I doing here? Am I in over my head? How did I end up at a psychiatric hospital? The story begins in my Writing for Publicity class when [Instructor of English] Brion Champie assigned a semester project: volunteering at a nonprofit organization. I took to the Internet and found an opening. “Volunteers wanted for public relations writing at hospital.” Perfect. I envisioned myself in a quiet corner composing brochures and fund-raiser invitations. No matter that this was a full-fledged psychiatric hospital, specializing in severely ill patients, most of whom were long-term, livein residents. The volunteer director offered a different vision. In her southern drawl she told us, “Y’all really need to get involved with the patients. If ya don’t, how do you expect to write about us?” She had a point.
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