The Power of the Vote

I was honored to see the 42nd President of the United States, William J. Clinton speak at Indiana University on April 2, 2008. It was a profound experience and although Mr. Clinton only spoke for a little over an hour, it was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life! It is events of this magnitude; forums at the Monroe County Library, rallies with Presidential Candidates, and the O’Bannon Institute, that I instinctively sensed where out there, just outside of my reach while I served in the military and after.

Even though I write now on the importance of voting, I was not always as inspired by my civic duty to do so. Lack of political will to combat problems of drugs and poverty in my home town of Detroit seemed to indicate that my voice was but a whisper thrown against the roar of a turbulent political ocean.

President Clinton speech reminded me that political will is renewable.

It reminded me that voting is not a civic right, it is a civic duty.

And finally, President Clinton’s speech reminded me that not only am I beholden to the forefathers of our great country, but as an African-American man I am also beholden to a community of grandmothers, grandfathers and grandaunts and uncles, who sacrificed their safety to ensure that we all would have the opportunity to exercise equality.

Community service is something I hold dear and I enjoy. I was excited to find a new facet of community service through Rebecca South, Psychiatric Nursing Instructor. She allowed me to write a paper about a not-so-traditional form of alopecia that my ‘tween daughter suffers from. It was through this paper that hope to educate others about the illness, but more importantly to provide hope and encouragement for others that have this disorder or have a family member suffering. This article can be found at http://www.bloomington.ivytech.edu/nursingdb/

- T. Martin

This semester for service learning I took my children to the Bloomington Community Kitchen where we got to prepare and serve food to the homeless. My children had never experienced anything like it. They were nervous at first, but after they said they were so glad they did it. This not only served the community, but the benefit my family got out of it was so very valuable. My sixteen-year-old had such a good experience that he ask the staff at the Community Kitchen if he could come back and bring some friends to help out! They, of course, said yes!The second thing I did was write a paper, more like a letter, to future psych students about the actual psych rotation. I actually worked in psych for nine months as a nurse intern and a nurse/psych tech. I absolutely loved my experience while working there and my experiences during the psych rotation. I wanted to let the students know that it is not a place to be feared, that most of the patients on the unit are just people that have undergone things in their lives that they could just not effectively cope with. I also want students to know that the staff is by far the best staff I have ever worked with in a rotation setting and I know others that feel the same way. My paper encourages students to look at this as an opportunity to fine tune their skills and be able to pick up on things that can help their patients throughout their nursing careers no matter what unit they are working on.

Gina Blondell,

Ivy Tech ASSN 2008

My service learning experiences this semester have been plentiful. I was given the opportunity to participate in the alternative spring break to Mexico. Details about this trip are on the blogs that we entered while on the trip. I have been volunteering at VIM (Volunteers in Medicine) this semester also. This is a free clinic that is located on Miller Drive next to Bloomington South High School. It is an opportunity for the people of Monroe and Owen County to recieve healthcare, even though they do not have any health insurance. Bloomington Hospital sponsors this clinic and has two full time nurses that are employees that work there. The other nurses that provide care there are volunteers. A nurse practicioner works full-time and then there are physicians that volunteer at the clinic. The shifts are four hours, either from 8a-12p or 1p-5p. Some days of the week there are also shifts after five for the patients that work during the day and cannot miss work to go to the doctor. This clinic was established to help people that are unable to get health insurance and to take some strain off of the emergency room at the hospital. Often it seems like the only option to go to the ER when a patient is unable to see a physician without health insurance or cash to pay for the visit. I am an LPN and will be finished with the RN program this semester. Being able to volunteer at the clinic has given me an opportunity to see the large population of patients that are unable to seek healthcare because they are unable to pay for it. The clinic provides referals for these patients to have diagnostic tests and lab work done through Bloomington Hospital. It is a wonderful service that is being provided and would not be able to continue without the help of the volunteers.

I volunteer at PALS (People and animal Learning Services) on Thursdays. It has been a wonderful experience. I get to work with horses and the special needs population combining my two favorite groups to be with. I have gained a lot of experience with big horses and made friends with other horse lovers. I had the opportunity to spend time with one client that I had worked with in her home years ago, and it was great to get the chance to spend time together again. I also had the chance to work on my therapeutic communication skills in a very positive setting. I was amazed at the patience and understanding some of the horses displayed. Naavar, a twenty-eight year old gelding carries himself with great pride without missing a single step, regardless of the rider on his back. He will be retiring soon, but I feel very privileged to have been able to witness this distinguished gentleman at work. PALS is a great place to volunteer to get experience with special needs individuals and with special horses! www.palstherapy.org

I did my service learning project through Bloomington Area Birth Services (BABS). The purpose of my project was to determine the availability of resources at the Monroe County Hospital for information regarding postpartum depression. I researched the library catalog to find out what sort of books/videos were available. I then asked a librarian where I might go if I was a mother looking for postpartum support. She was knowledgeable, gave me the phone numbers of both Bloomington Hospital and BABS, and a brochure reporting the time and place of a support group. I typed up a reference list for BABS, so that they could in turn pass this info on to parents. I also attended a meeting for the Postpartum Depression Task Force of Monroe County, which included professionals from BABS, the hospital, and local therapists.

Over this semester I am in my psych class, one of the requirements was to do a service learning project. I am currently staying in Indianapolis and I volunteered at the Dove House.
This is a recovery house for drugs and alcohol. Some of the clients were at the stage where they needed to go to interviews and get a job. The day I volunteered I did mock interviews with them and then critiqued them on what were good points and what they could change, or improve.
This was also insightful for myself, teaching is not anything I ever considered doing, but I will stay in contact with this organization and see how things went for these people. They are not bad people, they just made some really bad choices. This is a positive experience for anyone that chooses to take the challenge.

Contact info for the Dove House is Pam Gaither phone 317-710-0429

I became involved in Big brother Big Sister in August of this year. My experience has been a rewarding one. Many volunteer activities may not provide such a long term benefit for all involved. The kids that volunteer to be in the program want to be there, and it only involves two hours a week for one year. The attachment that you develop is rewarding, and the difference that you make is profound. We make trips to the mall, movies, and just hang out together. It makes such a big impact on my “little’s” life. Take the step; become involved. www.BBBS.org