A wellness volunteer’s life is not all sauteed spinach and yoga poses. Instead, a day spent in the Joy Wellness Center is something like playing house... in a house with 50 people, who all need laundry washed. Who Volunteers in Joy Wellness Center? Joy boasts more than more than 20 administrative volunteers to support nearly 30 provider volunteers. When the day starts at 9 a.m. there are visit folders to be prepped, phone calls to be answered, appointments to schedule and rooms to prepare. As in the rest of Shepherd’s Clinic, volunteers greet patients with a smile, and challenges as a team. "I was willing to do anything I could to help, but I think has definitely been a better fit for me." says Drew Gardner, a wellness volunteer with a background in exercise science." "It's been pretty great seeing how the patients respond to these complementary services." A Day in the Life On a quieter morning, a volunteer might start the day by setting out the tea basket for incoming ...

Last week, the Shepherd’s Clinic celebrated National Volunteer week with a delicious dessert competition, themed-dress up days, and grab bag gifts. The dessert competition was a week-long event dedicated to and judged by volunteers. Staff and volunteers brought in a variety of tasty treats including brownies, cupcakes, Lola cookies, a carrot cake, muffins, and strawberry cheesecake cups, which were then rated on a scale of one to ten by hungry volunteers. Themed dress up days gave volunteers a chance to show off their creativity. Each day, from Tuesday to Saturday, was designated the theme of Boardwalk, Hat, Baltimore Orioles, Shepherd's Clinic, and Pajamas days, respectively. The volunteer who best portrayed the theme of the day had their picture taken and is currently displayed proudly for all to see. Even if volunteers, for some mysterious reason, didn’t want to eat as much sweet goodness as they could or dress up in crazy costumes they had an opportunity to participate in our gift grab bags by selecting a picture of a clinic related item, finding the box of presents marked with that picture, and then picking a present from the box. Most importantly, we want to express our gratitude and appreciation for all the hard work ...

It's National Volunteer Week! This is a big week for the clinic--we're primarily volunteer driven, and have more than 250 volunteers who come in every week and give their time in order to provide people without health insurance quality, integrative care. We'll be celebrating all week with dress-up theme days, a dessert competition, and grab bag prizes. To kick things off here's an infographic (made by a volunteer!) celebrating all the great things volunteers have done here over the past year.   Why You Rock: 2013 Volunteer AppreciationWelcome to Pro! | Create infographics

  Working as a Front Office volunteer is pretty tough work. They’re not just sitting at the entrance to look pretty—Front Office volunteers are critical to the clinic, and they’re always busy.   For example, I just spent 30 minutes interviewing Shauna Linn about what it is like to volunteer in the Front Office. Even though the Clinic’s waiting room was empty, I could barely ask her four questions about her job without being interrupted. There were incoming calls every two minutes from patients who wanted to schedule or confirm appointments, or who had questions about the care the clinic offers, or who wanted to order medication. There were patients who needed to be checked out after their appointments, people who came in to pick up medication (which then needed to be found), or to drop off paperwork (which needed to be brought to the correct person), or to ask questions about the clinic.  In spite of all this, she was extremely cooperative when answering my questions, but I believe that I was able to gather more knowledge about her position’s role just sitting back and watching her do her job.   Shauna typically begins volunteering at the transition time (12 pm) between the two ...

  There are many wonderful things about the clinic's physical space--the light, the space, the colors--but something that patients, volunteers, staff, and visitors all notice is the art on the wall. The murals, mosaics, tapestries, and paintings add warmth, life, and celebration to the clinic--and soon we'll have a new piece to add to the collection! The Youth Dreamers, our neighbors across the parking lot, are currently working on a community art project about all the many ways to measure success--and the finished piece will hang in the Joy Wellness Center. Patients, volunteers, and staff will have the opportunity to illustrate what success means for them. The Youth Dreamers are collecting these illustrations and will turn them into the final product. The finished piece will be hung in the wellness center on April 20th from 12-2--everyone is more than welcome to stop by and see!