Providence Center for Medically Fragile Children
the problem:
The community I am helping are children from infancy to 21 years old. These children are medically fragile and live permanently in the center where they go to Portland Public Schools and do a variety of other activities in and outside of the Center. They are just like any other kid their age who love to have fun, laugh, dance, play and be read to. These children spend the majority of the time inside the Center, which is their home. They barely have knowledge of the outside world between the rare field trips they take to OMSI or the movies and school. Volunteers are greatly needed to interact with these kids, because they are around the same nurses everyday, all the time and it is refreshing to them to see new faces, make new friends, and spend time away from medicine and machines that keep them going.
vital stats:
people impacted:
51people involved:
1why it's important:
As a volunteer at Providence, I have a one-on-one buddy who I am partnered with and she loves to have her fingernails painted, put on makeup, dress up, dance, and she absolutely loves chocolate. I have been partnered with her for two years and she is such a joy to be around, I look forward to anytime I go and visit her, knowing that I will have a good time with whatever we do. In addition to spending time with my buddy, I do bus duty, which is taking the kids off the bus dropping them off from school and taking them back to their rooms at the Center and help with the monthly birthday parties by making party hats, decorating the room and dancing with the kids. I also help with the annual events such as the Halloween dance, Halloween trick-or-treating, Halloween pumpkin carving, Christmas present opening, New Year's party, Valentines Day party, Mardi Gras party, Cinco De Mayo party, Leprechaun Hunt, and Prom for the older kids. By putting on all these activities, Providence is making sure that the children are able to interact with other people and spend time with them to change their daily routine and get them exposed to something other than being in their rooms all day. These activities also gives the kids a chance to make new friends, because over the years I have volunteered at Providence, I have befriended many of the children and love spending time with every one of them.
the plan of action:
In addition to my advertising about the Center I volunteer at now, I try to get the word out to more people than the ones at my school. So far I have interested a handful of people in my class and there are many others who volunteer at the Center already without my recommendation. All it takes is to go there one time and experience it, because the majority of the people I talk to about volunteering there are scared, because they are not used to the conditions that these children are in and are uncomfortable with their situation. It just takes some getting used to, so I try and get everyone I talk to about it to go at least once and just try it.
how you can get involved:
Others can help by volunteering their time to these children as well. They do not get to experience many things that others do and by stopping by and spending time with them makes them feel like they are experiencing life outside of the Center.
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