writing
aaaa1
Weeklymonthlyfinal.docxWeekly Journal
Spring Internship 2018
Western Kentucky University
Week#1 from 1/22/2018- 1/26/2018
My first day at the Red Cross went well. I had no idea what the Red Cross does for people, but this week I learned a lot about this organization. The American Red Cross is an empathetic affiliation driven by people who like to volunteer and donate to their communities. Furthermore, the Red Cross helps people during emergencies like natural disasters and home fires by supplying them with necessary items. I love the Red Cross’ main goal of assisting people without asking anything back from them. I’ll try my best to help people while I am working here with the Red Cross.
Moreover, this week I learned how to make an account and how to view activities through the Red Cross’s website. I also learned more about the pillowcase program and how it educates children in our community. The Pillowcase program teaches children to prepare and be ready for any emergency. I learned that the children should figure out how to remain safe in an emergency and are taught about how to be prepared and plan for these situations. If we teach all children about the pillowcase project, we would have children that would know what to do if an emergency occurred. I enjoyed working this week as the Pillowcase Project Presentation Assistant. The Pillowcase project can be taught by trained Red Cross volunteers in 45 to 60 minutes. This week I passed the certification quiz, so now I can teach the pillowcase program in schools. Also, I learned that the Red Cross has a Disney Mickey activity book which teaches children how to be prepared and safe during emergencies. Over all, I like to learn about what to do in an emergency because it was something I did not know a lot about before. Sometimes, even adults do not know what to do during a disaster and it might be hard for them to save themselves and their children. So, I think it is important that children know more about the Pillowcase programs and allow the Red Cross to teach this program at local schools. I was also impressed by the fact that if the schools would like to request The Pillowcase Project for their students, they can do it online and it is so easy.
Week#2 from 1/29/2018-2/2/2018
Each day I keep learning more and more about what the Red Cross does for people, not only just in Bowling Green, but around the world. I learned more about the online courses and the other training classes that the Red Cross offers. I also learned about many other important programs that the Red Cross operates. For example, the Red Cross supports America’s military families, organizes lifesaving blood drives, offers health safety services, and more projects. I was informed about the Red Cross’ blood drives, which are when healthy people come and donate their blood to a patient who is in need. The Red Cross is also always trying to help military people and their families for any difficulties they may experience.
Additionally, this week I took a course called Basic Food Safety. This course taught me about how to stay safe from contaminated food and what foods to gather for yourself in an emergency. Some important tips that this class taught me are that when the power goes out your food may spoil and become dangerous to eat. For example, meat, poultry, seafood or any perishable food can become unsafe to eat in some situations. These types of food are not safe to eat if they are not kept refrigerated at 40°F or below. Basic food safety helped me a lot to know what to do with my food if an emergency occurs and how to avoid getting a foodborne illness. This course could help everyone in our world to stay healthy.
Moreover, I learned more about disaster training this week. The Red Cross gives free disaster training to people who would like to volunteer in their programs. The training courses are offered both on the web and in-person, depending on the course. The disaster training course teaches people how to help others if a crisis occurs, like a tornado, earthquake, or flood. We all can help to make a difference in our community and help people who need assistance. I learned that by taking this course, I could help my home and my neighborhood if we ever have an emergency. The disaster training helped me a lot, since I have never taken any disaster training before. It also taught me about what to do when an emergency happens. I would recommend these courses for people to help them know what to do and aid other people when they have emergencies.
Week#3 from 2/5/2018-2/9/2018
This week was very interesting. I learned that Red Cross does alarm installation for people in the community. Alarm installation involves going to people’s houses and offering free smoke alarm-supplanting batteries, and teaching people how to escape from fires. The Red Cross is trying to save more people from dying in fires. So many people die because of house fires because they do not have a working smoke alarm and do not know that their house is on fire until it is too late. Unfortunately, young children and elderly people are often the first to lose their lives in house fires. This program encourages people in the community to create an escape plan and draw a map to show what route they will take to exit their home if it is on fire.
Another important program I learned about this week is health services. There a many health services programs that you can volunteer in. For example, you can volunteer at the blood drive by helping people to fill out their paper work, assisting people in setting up to donate blood, and giving them a snack afterwards. As a health services volunteer, you can also take care of people who have been hurt, help them with finding shelter and medical supplies. There is a handbook that familiarizes people with the available health services, other programs, and ways to help people. On the Red Cross’ website, I saw that you can take a class to learn about CPR and first aid. I would like to take this class in the future, as I think is extremely important to be able to handle a medical emergency. You could potentially save someone’s life if they have a heart attack and you are able to perform CPR on them. I hope that I will be able to someday take the CPR training course and become certified in this area.
This week I presented the pillowcase program at a local school. As a volunteer in the pillowcase program, it helped me a lot to not feel afraid of talking in front of kids. Originally, I thought the kids would not listen to me because I am not their teacher or parents. As a health educator, getting over this fear can help you in the future because you may work with kids and will more than likely have to speak in front of a large audience. By doing the pillowcase project, I am developing a way of being around kids and how to work with them effectively. I am happy to be teaching the children information that is valuable to them living safe lives. As I mentioned last week, it is young children and the elderly that are the most likely to die in a fire. By educating children about what to do in this situation, they will be more likely to survive a house fire. I am also very impressed that the Red Cross installs smoke alarms for free. Everyone, no matter how rich or poor, should have access to a smoke detector and keep their homes safe.
Week#4 from 2/12/2018-2/16/2018
This week during my internship I was able to do more online courses that could help me in my future. One of these courses was called “shelter fundamentals.” The Red Cross’ mission is helping people who suffer in the face of emergency. This course taught me at the basic level about how to help others find shelter and what an adequate shelter looks like. For example, I learned the guidelines of how to open and close the shelter during any kind of disaster. I also learned that if you want to be a volunteer in shelter services, you need to do this course and pass the quiz. This course takes almost two to three hours to get the certificate.
Afterwards, I went to Elizabethtown to get more items to prepare for the flood that was happening in Kentucky during this time. We bought essential items like clothes, blankets, and toothbrushes. This week we also did a smoke alarm installation. I went with my coworker to install smoke alarms at an elderly woman’s house. According to their guidelines, the Red Cross installs only three smoke alarms if you have a small house. The elderly woman’s home was small, yet she wanted us to put a smoke alarm in every room. I told her that we could not put more than three alarms in her house, but she refused to listen to me and my coworker. In the end, we gave up and installed the number of smoke alarms that she wanted anyways.
Lastly, at the end of this week we had blood drives. It is always inspiring to see how many people come and donate blood. I was amazed at how many people in the community cared enough to come and donate blood. The blood drives usually start at 10:30 am and last until 4:30 every Friday. At this event, I welcomed people and asked if they had an appointment. I love working on Fridays and seeing how many people come and donate blood. I enjoying speaking to the blood donors and learning about why they care about giving blood to the Red Cross.
Week#5 from 2/19/2018-2/23/2018
This week was very busy, and I enjoyed it a lot. We had to go to Elizabethtown to bring more supplies to the Bowling Green office to restock in the case of an emergency. We got the supplies we needed from the Elizabethtown Red Cross and then drove back to Bowling Green. On our way back home, I asked my coworkers more about Red Cross and why they like working there. They both said love working there and told me that they have been out of United States helping people and enjoy helping people around the world. I love the way my coworkers do their work because they like being away from home and the families sometimes. They believe that it is important to help people from different countries.
I had the chance this week to take the Workforce Planning course. I found this course to be very useful, since I always have difficulty planning my work tasks with other people. The information I learned from the Workforce Planning course will be useful in my daily life and in the future. One day, I hope to manage a hospital or healthcare related organization. It will be extremely important for me to be able to plan and coordinate with people in the workplace if I will be in these environments in the future. Workforce Planning can help companies have a better workforce and assists the manger in ensuring the success of his team. This course can help with long term planning so that the manager can effectively use his staff and resources.
This week I taught another pillowcase project at one of the local schools. I feel like these courses are becoming much easier for me to teach and that my technique improves each time. It was so much fun because I talked to the kids and asked them questions to see if they were listening to my presentation. For example, I asked them, “Do you have a smoke alarm in your house? What would you get in your pillowcase if you ever have an emergency in your house?” To me, it is important to ask the children questions as you go through the presentation. This is not only to make sure that they are paying attention, but also so you know that they understand the information. I think that the children enjoy it when I am them questions. They seemed very eager to answer and talk about their houses and if they had a smoke alarm at home or not.
Lastly, I ended my week by volunteering at another blood drive. The Friday blood drive was not very busy. I would say that maybe 30 people came and donated blood. I was somewhat surprised that there were not any young people who came to the blood drive this time. The average age for the donors on this Friday was above 45 years old. This is probably because most young people would have been in school at this time. Also, I have noticed that there are a lot of retired people that enjoy coming to the Red Cross and volunteering in the programs or donating blood at the drive. I think this is very useful, both for the Red Cross and the retired people. They want to still be useful to our society and have something to do and the Red Cross has plenty of opportunities to be filled. The Red Cross and the people of Bowling Green have a great relationship between one another. As someone who is not even from this country, I have appreciated getting to know the kind people at the Red Cross and the community members that volunteer there and come to events.
Month January-February
This month I had the privilege of doing my internship at the Red Cross. I went to meet the people who work at the Red Cross and the other interns. We toured the office and one of the workers helped us to set up an online account. We went through paperwork, job descriptions and meetings. This month I learned so much about the Red Cross. For example, many of the programs they offer are free, including their pillow case and smoke alarm installation projects. I also learned about how to conduct the Red Cross’ blood drive, which are on Fridays, and about the online courses that they offer.
Week#6 from 2/26/2018-3/2/2018
Each day I feel happier doing my internship with Red Cross because of the help they offer to people, such as free classes, clothing donations, and smoke alarms. This week I got the chance to learn about the training that Red Cross offers. I was surprised when I found out that the Red Cross has a swimming course. I never thought Red Cross would offer this class and was excited to learn more about it. Moreover, I believe that taking a swimming class is going to help to save people. This class teaches people how to swim, develop better behaviors and safety tips for being near water. They also have an app for swimming, which provides safety tips for being in water and how to help someone if they are drowning. The app has educational games and videos for children to learn how to swim. This class is not only offered for adults, but for children and teenagers as well. The class is also offered online and anyone can take it anytime anywhere. I would really recommend people who love beach, swim or live near the beach to take this class to be ready for any kind of emergencies and it only costs $19 dollars to get the certificate. I also showed one of the interns how to add his hours and I talked to him about the blood drive. I talked to him about where is the blood drive, how long does he can stay there, and what he will do there. I encouraged my friends to come and donate blood to help save the lives of people in need across the country. On the last day of this week, I went to the blood drive and it was really busy. My friend came trying to donate blood, but he couldn’t because he has been out of the United State the last three years. In order for any international person to donate blood, they have to been in the United State for at least three years.
week#7 from 03/5/2018-03/10/2018
Working with Red Cross has been an impactful way for me to learn new knowledge and skills. I learned this week how to respond to various kinds of emergencies. Red Cross is trying to save lives and making great progress at doing so. By taking the Emergency Medical Response course, I learned how to potentially save someone’s life. The skills I learned when I took this course were Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), how to use the Automated External Defibrillator and other skills that could help during emergencies.
I was very excited that there was a First Aid class this week, but unfortunately it was on Saturday morning. I was unable to attend because I do not normally volunteer on Saturdays. I watched some videos and read about first aid in my hometown and in the United States. The only thing that I was surprised about is that in the United States, you can get the First Aid certificate free. In Saudi Arabia, you have to pay almost $100 dollars for this certificate. Finally, I went to the blood drive on Friday and was happy to see the amount of people that showed up to donate blood. I helped with registration, gave people drinks and made sure that they are okay while they were giving blood. There were not a lot of people, but most of the people who did come were old and they usually donate blood.
Moreover, I went to the class on Saturday and I was the only Red Cross intern who went to the class. There were four people that I did not know, and we become friends later because we had to work together. The First Aid is helping people who are in need across the country. By taking the first aid class, I learned how to respond to emergencies until emergency services arrive. In this course, I also learned about what to do if someone gets burned, is poisoned, or if they have a heart attack.
week#8 from 03/12/2018-03/16/2018
This week was spring break, so I was not sure if I should go to my internship or stay home and sleep. I finally decided to go to my internship to finish my hours. I took one day off and there really was nothing to do since all my friends were out of town. This week I was talking with one of the coworkers at Red Cross and she told me that there is a baby sitting class and that it might be helpful to you when you get married. I laughed when she told me this. In our world now, it is hard to find a trusted babysitter. Parents would pay more money for a trained babysitter. I also learned that anyone can have a better business with babysitters that are certified. The certification class is offered online and in person. After going through this course, I learned that this class teaches you to offer excellent care to kids of all age and anyone above 11 years old can sign up to take it. Babysitting teaches you about how to take care of a child, how to feed babies and about children’s’ behavior. I will not get married soon, but I recommend this class to people who have a business or are trying to be a good babysitter.
I also got the chance to talk to one of the coworkers and she asked me if I am interested in working with them after my internship. I told her I would consider working with Red Cross. I love working in a place like the Red Cross because their mission is helping people and I would do anything to help people who are in need. At the end of this week, I went to the blood drive and there were several people who came to donate blood. I had one of my friends to come to donate blood. She is from the United State, so she did not have any problems with donating blood. This was her first time donating blood, so she was a little bit nervous. The nurse asked me if I want to be next to her and talk to her. I talked to her till she was finished. Afterwards, she told me that she did not feel anything and was happy that she donated blood. At the end of the day, the nurse came and thanked me for trying to bring people to donate blood.
Week#9 from 03/19/2018-03/23/2018
This week I was interested in doing Psychological First Aid, which is about helping others in times of stress. This course offers instruction on basic care, comfort and support for people who have been in a disaster-related situation. I also learned when to take a person who is in need to a mental health professional. We all know that disasters are stressful for people who experience them. I learned that the Red Cross responds to smaller disasters like house fires and larger disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Some of the signs of the stress that I learned from this course are: a change in a person’s behaviors, having feelings of being numb or terrified, and physical effects like having a hard time sleeping. A person may also experience constant stomachaches and headaches.
The course called Psychological First Aide taught me about the actions we should take to help people suffering from experiencing a disaster. Some of these actions including, helping people to be safe, making connections with them, and being kind and sympathetic to people. I would recommend this course for people who are emergency first responders and those who want to be prepared for disasters in general. In my opinion, this is a course that everyone should take.
Moreover, I told my boss Jennifer that I am trying to bring my friends from Saudi Arabia and other countries to donate blood. Unfortunately, as I learned last week, at the blood drive, they will take blood from people that are not from the U.S. or that have been out of the country for the last three years. However, my boss Jennifer told me that my friends can come and donate blood as long as they did not travel to countries with high rates of infectious diseases. I was happy when she told me she will make some calls and ask around about this because I want my friends to be able to come and donate blood to save those who are in need. She got back to me with the news telling me that my friends can go to the blood drive and donate. At the end of the week, I went to the blood drive. I called my friends to come to donate blood. Each week we have different nurses, so my friends did not have any problems donating blood and I did not have to call my boss. I helped people get registered and helped with giving out drinks and snacks. I always feel good on this day because of people who come and donate blood to save people.
Week#10 from 03/26/2018-03/30/2018
This week I’m about to finish my hours for my internship, but I actually would like to continue working at Red Cross because I like being there and helping out. This week was fun because we had the health fair day at Western Kentucky University. The health fair day was at the gym and Red Cross set up a booth there. At the fair, we showed students our phone apps and explained to them how they worked. I spent some of this week reading about these apps as well. Red Cross knows how most use their phone heavily, so they created the apps that could help students to stay safe. Some of the free apps that Red Cross has to offer are hero care, first aid, blood, pet first aid, and emergency. Hero Care is an app that will join you to important resources that can help you in both emergency and nonemergency circumstances. The first aid app is extremely important for people and especially students because it is handling the most common first aid emergencies. Students need to know the most common first aid skills in case there is any kind of emergency. Some students do not know where to donate blood in Bowling Green, especially new students. The Blood app will help them find the closest place to donate blood. The pet first aid app can help people find veterinary advice for their pet. The emergency app has so many different severe weather and emergency alerts, to help to keep you and your loved ones safe.
I explained all these apps to the students at the health fair. But the Red Cross has more apps like tornado, hurricane, and earthquake. I also told students about the upcoming blood drives on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of April. It will be amazing to see so many students donating blood. We have thousands of young people and they can save so many lives. I also told them that we have a blood drive every Friday in case they want to come and donate. I also received an email from Brett Crystal the Account Representative of Donor Recruitment thanking me for bringing many students to donate blood. This week I told my boss Jennifer that even though I am done with my hours for my internship, I still want to be a volunteer at the Red Cross. At the end of the week, I had a blood drive and it was a busy day and we for a couple of hours we had to stop taking walk-in donors. I helped people register and answer any questions about how to many an appointment. I told people that the Red Cross has an app to make appointments with so that they can get to the blood drives on Friday. Some people thought that was helpful and some did not even listen to me.
February-March
Time goes so fast that I cannot believe that I have been with the Red Cross for almost three months. This month was full of exciting things. I took a lot of training classes such as, Swimming, Psychological First Aid Helping Others in Times of Stress and others. I got the chance to attend the health fairs day at WKU. I helped with explaining the apps that Red Cross has to offer. I encouraged students and professors to come on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th of April to donate blood. This month I also had the chance to attend a CPR and AED training at the Red Cross. This month I also brought a lot of my friends to donate blood because I want people to save other lives who are in need. I cannot donate blood for some reason, so I will not stop asking my friends to come on Fridays to the blood drives and donate blood. I will not stop being a volunteer at Red Cross because of the many good things they for us.
