Published: August 05, 2008 03:32 pm         

NTMC program helps volunteers choose future

Not every summer job comes with a pay check.

Valley View graduate Kacee Stobaugh, 18, is one of a group of 11 Cooke County high school students who recently gave up some free time to complete a junior volunteer program at North Texas Medical Center.

“ I got to learn a lot of different things,” Stobaugh said of her experience.

Program coordinator, Rashonda Hayes, said Stobaugh and the other students worked in almost every area of the hospital including the emergency department, medical imaging, the Women’s Center, food services and surgery units.

“The students got a lot of patient interaction, and they had the chance to do some job shadowing with staff members including doctors,” Hayes said.

Stobaugh said the six week program helped her make plans for the future.

“I decided to do this program to figure out what I wanted to do after college,” Stobaugh said.

She said she planned to became a radiology tech but has since decided to study nursing.

“I learned that radiology tech work is very competitive, and it might be hard for me to get a job around here,” she said.

Stobaugh said she became interested in working in a medical field after following the success of her older brother, Jared, an NTMC radiology tech.

“He works here, and he really likes it,” she said of her brother.

Stobaugh also said after she earns her nursing credentials, she would like to work in a women’s wellness center.

The junior volunteer program began in late June and concluded Friday with a small celebration and certificates for the volunteers.

Students from all areas of the NTMC hospital district were encouraged to take part in the program.

Most found out about it at their high schools.

“I learned about the program through an announcement over the intercom at my school,” Stobaugh said.

Volunteers came from Valley View, Era, Gainesville and Lindsay, she noted.

Hayes said NTMC also offers students in the Muenster hospital district a chance to participate since the district does not have a junior volunteer program of its own.

Stobaugh said her experience opened her eyes to some of the realities of working with patients in a hospital environment.

“When you work with people who are ill, you learn that you have to stay positive. You have to communicate with patients and try to reassure them they’re okay,” she said.

Hayes said the facility’s senior volunteers helped their younger counterparts.

“They became mentors to the junior volunteers and could be contacts for them when they needed help or advice,” she said. “They (senior volunteers) really seemed to enjoy it. The whole senior volunteer program is just so encouraging.”

Stobaugh said her senior volunteer even wrote her a kind letter afterward.

“It was so sweet of her to do that,” she said.

Although the program is designed to place students in all areas of the hospital, students can also specialize, Hayes said.

“If a student is interested in pediatrics or dietary services, for instance, they can spend more time in that rotation,” she said.

Hayes said most of the students who completed the program also have summer jobs.

“Kacee is also a lifeguard. Most of the students are working or volunteering somewhere else,” she noted.

Other junior volunteers included Allison Metlzer, Zach McFarlin, Kristina Brown, Stephanie Neu, Liz Hestorff, Emily Eckles, Lucy Rojas, Laci Felderhoff, Jaci Felderhoff and Janette Almaraz.