Hospital volunteers on fast track to careers

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Some students volunteer with their high school clubs, some join church groups that serve the community, and some spend their time helping out at the hospital.

Tate Foster, a 16-year-old junior at Riverside Christian High School, can be found among that last group. She's one of the many young volunteers at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital.

She heard about the opportunity through her grandmother who worked in the gift shop, and her father's friends who are doctors there.

Now, "I spend about four hours a week there," Foster says. "I also volunteer at Children's Village, too."

According to Katie Trammell, Memorial's YouthWorks coordinator, approximately 30 percent of the hospital's 807 volunteers are students from Highland to Toppenish and points in between, including Eisenhower and Davis high schools.

"We have so many different positions," says Trammell, 24.

Some get placed in the gift shop, and some are members of the work crew that help Trammell get prepared for events.

Foster has been helping in the emergency room for two years now.

"I am just interested in ... the whole thing," she says. "And I really like people. I chose ER because it's fast- paced, always something new, and I like being around the medical area."

She added that someday, "I'd like to go to medical school. And working in the ER has helped me understand what they do day-to-day, and what they have to deal with."

Plus, "I like the fact that I can help people," she says.

The age requirement for volunteering varies at different hospitals.
At Memorial, volunteers can be as young as 14, but at Prosser Memorial Hospital and Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center volunteers must be at least 16 years old.

According to Heathyr Ford, Regional's 39-year-old volunteer manager, the age requirement was set by the human resources department.

"It's something we're looking at because more and more students are wanting to volunteer," she says.

No matter what their age, volunteers help save money. Last year, volunteers at Memorial helped save the hospital $996,000, according to Trammell.

"They are extremely helpful," Trammell says. "The amount they save for the hospital is priceless."

Trammell says she hopes volunteers enjoy their experience and get a better understanding of the health care industry. Megan Ransom, 22, a community relations assistant and volunteer coordinator at the Prosser hospital, has similar hopes.

"I really hope they get enthusiasm for health care," she says of student volunteers. "Health care is in need of people ... so I hope they gain the passion and learn what it feels like to help people."

Seventeen-year-old Edwin Llamas, a junior at Ike, wants to become a cardiothoracic surgeon someday. He volunteered last summer to get a feel for the hospital atmosphere.

He says, "From this experience, I learned a variety of skills -- mainly taking care of patients, what certain codes mean, and other sets of skills that should help me in my future."

* Yolanda Altamirano is a member of the Yakima Herald-Republic's Unleashed team. She attends Eisenhower High School.