2 homeworks within 12 hours

Update #1

Last Friday, March 8th I finished my first 35 hours and my experience with American Red Cross- Blood Donation centers So far it is so good. I feel I already learned so much them. Every location I went to I felt that I’m so welcome and they tried to teach me new things. My first location was at the American Red Cross at Santa Ana, and there I got my training first. After that, I did mostly hospitality, which I was talking to the donors after they donated blood and I make sure if they were feeling okay and welcome. The second location was Pomona center and I did the registration for the donors, which I make sure that they had an appointment or walked in then made them sign in on the sign-in sheet or in the laptop. However, I make sure that they had a Rapid pass, which they need to read the instructions online or I give them to read the instruction paper before they donate blood. After that, I wrote a sticker for them and I included the appointment time as well as the type of donation that they are going to do. There are four different types of donations: whole blood, plasma, platelet (Aphaeresis), and power red (double red). Moreover, donors who are donating for the first time they have different sticker cause they need different kind of care with much of explanation. The third location was a bloodmobile next to Saddleback Valley Christian High School at San Juan Capistrano and I met kids from the same school who are volunteering with me as well and they were welcoming the donors and I did the registration most of the time. 4th location was in Pomona center but this time was only for employees and most of them were working in the American Red Cross which was so much fun and everybody were know each other and I did the registration as well as helped to set the location because that day we had to make a game of thrones theme and we were giving a game of thrones t-shirt to the donors. A 5th place was at Fullerton and I did both hospitality and registration. The last place was at the Pasadena court and I took responsibility for the registration and I had one donor who was not feeling okay so I let the nurse know and after she came the donor fell down and I’m so glad that I told the nurse on the right time.

Challenges:

I actually had one big challenge which is the locations are too far from my house cause most of the Orange County area are full and I can’t go for any shift on the days that I have classes, so I’m trying to include the LA area on the weekend to finish as many hours as I can in this month.

Highlights:

I liked how I went out from my comfort zone and I started to talk to people more as well as I learned how to handle the pressure for example if the donors are getting mad because they waited for a long time or had any other issues, I tried to calm them down and let the nurses know and solve the problem.

Overall, I like that I’m experiencing such a different environment in every different blood drive I go to which make me excited every time to explore more locations. I’m open to experience more and gain as much knowledge as I can and I will do my best to help the donors and give them great donating experience.

Update #2

I am emailing you with my second update for my internship, I have reached 60 hours on the last week. 

During the past two weeks this is what I have continued working on.

1) Registration, this includes signing in the donors on the system with their blood type and the type of donation, making sure that they read all the requirements and sometimes helping the nurses in the blood donation rooms.

2)help the donors with any questions they have and give them a brief explanation if it is their first time donating blood. 

3)hospitality, offering the donors any water, juice, and snacks, and at the same time make sure if they are okay after giving blood.

I have not made any changes to the learning contract. 

Problems: In my second 30 hours during my internship, I'm not being able to do many hours in one day due to my schedule and exams time. Hopefully, I am getting more hours in one day in April and finishing my entire 120 hours as soon as possible. Another problem is the locations of blood drives sometimes are too far away.

highlights: of my internship are being able to know the staff who work with the red cross more and making friendships and learning so much from them.

Update #3

I am emailing you with my third update for my internship, I have reached 97 hours on the last week. 

During the spring break and the week after, I went to several red cross locations to get as many hours as I could since there is no school, and this is what I have continued working on:

registering and assisting the donors: by making sure to sign the donors in on the sign-in sheet as well as registering them on the system. however, asking them if they would like to schedule a new appointment for the future.

hospitality: if there are 2 volunteers in the same shift we do hospitality too, which include offering the donors any water, juice/coffee, and snacks. At the same time, I make sure that they wait at least 15 minutes in the canteen area to avoid any problems after donating blood.

I have not made any changes to the learning contract. 

challenges: I'm having issues with the location of blood drives when it is not in the orange county area.

highlights: At first, I thought in this stage of my internship I would have learned everything but shockingly I'm still learning new things every time I go not only from the staff but from the donors as well and their different stories. In addition, I finished so many hours in such a short time.

I have completed 97 hours now and will continue to finish my hours as scheduled.