Rural Volunteering

Imagine teen volunteers in a healthcare setting. Admit it: Your first impression probably centered on teenagers pushing carts, delivering flowers or books, or escorting therapy dogs to patients’ rooms. But in the Medical Center Health System in Odessa, Texas, teenagers did more than push carts – they pushed the proverbial teen volunteer envelope to help develop an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) or Electronic Health Record (EHR) volunteer interdisciplinary team within the health care system.

In this feature story, Patricia Q. Garcia, Director of Volunteer Services and Community Relations Coordinator at the health system, highlights how teens became involved in developing the EMR and EHR systems. She explains the benefits derived from this youth volunteer initiative, and why the administration supported this volunteer-driven program. According to Garcia, this initiative was not only a success, “it serves as a best practice for future volunteer-led programs.” And it helps illustrate how to engage, value, and retain tomorrow’s leaders by working with teen volunteers.

Recent events have made the public more aware of the role of volunteers in protecting lives and property during fires and emergencies. Throughout the U.S. and many other countries around the world, communities (particularly small, rural ones) depend on citizens to assume those duties. These volunteer roles demand extensive training, time and commitment. In these days of busy lives and young people leaving their small communities in large numbers, how are these all-volunteer or combination staff-volunteer fire stations faring? This article will examine the issues, and how these programs are adapting to changing times while remaining true to their volunteer roots!