What do I do at the hospital?
Well, obviously I have no qualifications in health care or anything above A
levels, so I can’t be given much responsibility, especially in a hospital
environment where small mistakes can result in big problems. My job is to
assist the health care workers and nurses in whatever ways I can.
Yes, most of the time, time I’m doing menial tasks, like paperwork, changing sheets
and collecting prescriptions. But this is the health care professionals job,
and if they weren’t there, taking care of the small, day to day workings of the
hospital, then the nurses wouldn’t be able to do their jobs properly.
Volunteer work is never going to be lots of fun, and a lot of the time it can
be very boring, but I think that learning to put yourself to one side to assist
others is a valuable lesson. It teaches you to be less selfish, and not think ‘what
can this do for me’ but ‘what can I do for others’.
So, on a daily basis my usual jobs include:
Welcoming new patients to the ward, showing them around and to their rooms,
confirming their basic info and giving
them wristbands and lanyards.
Changing rooms, cleaning the beds and remaking the beds. I also clean the
patients tables, handrails etc, which helps prevent the spread of diseases
Collecting prescriptions from the pharmacy and delivering memos for extra drugs
to the pharmacy staff. Taking blood samples to the lab and collecting results.
Taking patients to different areas of the hospital, such as consultants, CT
scans, X-rays or rehab. I enjoy this because I like to chat to the patients and
specialized staff, particularly in the imaging rooms, because I find the
process interesting and I’ve made good friends with a lovely X ray man. The
rehab staff are also very nice and I enjoy seeing patients abilities improve
with their help.
Cleaning the nurses equipment and restocking things like syringes, bandages
etc. I enjoy spending time in the nurses’ station because they are all very
lovely and many of them are interested in me and like to chat.
Obviously, some paperwork is impossible because I only know the two phonetics
alphabets and about 15 common kanji, but I help out with things such as filing
away patients records, stamping ward references, and entering in basic patient data.
We also get the opportunity to work in the rehab ward, where we draw with the
patients and help them improve their motility, and the kitchen, where we
prepare the patients food.
We get to watch operations twice a month, which is always very exciting, if a bit disgusting. We got the opportunity to
accompany a community nurse on a home visit, which was very interesting, and
the patients was really lovely, I enjoy any chance to experience more of real Japanese
life.
My favourite part of working on the wards however, is the opportunity to talk
to the patients, partially because it helps improve my Japanese, but also
because some of the patients don’t have many or any visitors.
The nurses do what they can for these patients, but they don’t have much spare
time on their hands, so I’m very glad that I’m there to help.
Sometimes the patients are very old or ill, and so can’t converse properly. In
these cases I will tell them about myself and England, or draw for them. On a
few occasions patients have called me to their rooms to play games (Othello in
particular) or show me something (like origami or Japanese crochet).
They enjoy my company in particular because I’m a novelty, and something that
breaks the monotony of hospital life, and they also like to try and teach me
more Japanese.
Its very common to see, in particular old ladies, whose husbands have died, and
they have no children, or their children cannot visit, who will be in the
hospital for a long time. It’s very sad, but I think it reaffirms my reasoning
for coming here.
Volunteer workers aren’t going to change the world or save lives.
But making a hospital
stay a little less scary and lonely for one old lady, is enough justification
for me.
