Diary as a Volunteer-- Day #5

Day#5: 6 March 2013- Emergency Room (ER)
     Day #5. I was starting to accustom to this volunteering job now. Accustomed to waking up so early in the morning. Accustomed to the traffic jam in the morning. Accustomed to trudging up the blue-and-white outdoor staircase every morning. I was starting to wonder whether I'd land in the Wellness Center again today. (I was getting accustomed to that place and the people there too. ><) 

    "Today... do you want to go to the bakery? Help them seal bags of bread."
    "Bakery?" Yay! That sounds really fun. What's more, the bakery smells really NICE too! =D Unfortunately, my dad was pestering me everyday to ask to be sent somewhere where there is something relevant with medicine, (which is what I was planning to study later on). I really wanted to try out at the bakery, but I just can't stand another day of pestering. @@ So I informed the person in charge what my dad said. After all, we could choose where we wanted to go. We could choose to volunteer where our interests are. 

     "Then... what about the ER?"

      ER?! Emergency Room? Are you sure? What could I do there? I know some basic first-aid and I'm even sure that they wouldn't let me do things like that. Ah well, we'll see as we go on... 

      The moment I walked into the ER, I observed around and found out that it was a wide, spacious area with curtains-enclosed cubicles, beds and chairs. There was a counter at a far corner where I saw three nurses busying there. After the usual greetings and get-to-know, one of the nurses gave me a task to do-- staple pieces of paper together. I was led into a small side room to carry out the tasks. 

      It was still early by then. The place was really quiet. All I can hear was the "clip clip" sound I was making. Then, I heard someone walking in and raised my head to see a tall Indian man approximately in his forties to fifties. He was wearing a blue uniform... so unlike the nice, white uniforms the nurses wore. Hm, I wonder who was he? Later then, I found out that he was actually the supervisor of the place. Gosh. =O After he walked out, I was really absorbed and focused on what I was doing. Thus, I was shocked when I heard someone coughing IN THE ROOM. I jumped out of my skin. What? There was someone in here too? @@ I peered around and found out that there was another tinier room inside this small room. I guessed that the cough issued out from there and I was right. Minutes later, a healthy-looking man walked out. Oh, it was a doctor. (I thought there was someone sick in there #><#) 

     After I had finished the stapling, I went out to find the nurse and came back with a big box of paper clips. Yea, the next thing I had to do was to sort out several stacks of paper and clip them together. Well, I know it sounds like an easy job, but it took me more than an hour to finish them all. >~<

     I looked forward to the next task. However after I finished the sorting, the nurse simply said, "you can stand around and watch." Watch? Ok. I WATCH. ^^

     
     It was quite a 1 Malaysia scene. I did mention that there were three nurses there right? Well, one was a Chinese, one Malay and one Indian. Haha. =) 

     The rest of the day was quite boring. There was nothing much that I could help with, and there were not many patients there either. Well, there was one small incident that made the day a little interesting. The Indian supervisor drew some blood from an elderly patient and transferred them into three separate "test tubes". One of them rolled into the drawer and he closed the drawer without noticing. Soon afterwards, there was a small commotion where the four nurses searched high and low for that test tube. I did saw the test tube roll and I wasn't sure whether it was the one that they were all searching so madly for. I pointed out what I saw... and it was the one they were looking for! Yay! Glad to be some use. =D

     Besides that, I just stood around and observed how they treated patients who came in. Oh ya, there was once when one of the nurses asked me to go to the blood bank laboratory to fetch the results of a blood test. Hooray! Now I get to do something useful and move my legs. =) Then, there was another time when I had to send a document to the X-Ray department. Holding the document, I wandered around in that department and found no one at the counter. Hm... what to do? I just stood there and waited. A quite old man wearing white coat appeared from I don't know where and I gave him the document. Hah, thank you for appearing! =) He asked me to send a message back to the ER which I did, mentioning him as Dr. just as I thought I heard he told me. Ended up he wasn't one. He was a radiologist. Ah... How embarrassing! #><# 

     Just as I was going to leave, the ER got a phone call. An ambulance is needed. Everyone else was busy preparing. Sigh, seemed that I was going to miss the action after all. (._. )

     Well that was about all that I did that day. Sorta boring right? But, BUT it is really great to obtain the  opportunity to help out and observe at the ER. A chance that hardly comes by. =D