Valley teens volunteer at Banner medical centers

More than 85 teens from all over the Valley have chosen to spend their summer giving back to the community while exploring potential careers in the medical field. Banner Boswell and Banner Del E. Webb Medical Centers offer eight-week volunteer programs for teens ages 14-18 with an interest in medicine and healthcare.

Seventeen-year-old Corinna Cluckey, who hopes to one day become a surgeon, has volunteered in the program at Banner Boswell for the past five summers. This year, she is working in the surgery department’s family waiting room, interacting with and comforting surgery patients and their families. Interacting with patients and their families is honing this future surgeon’s bedside manner.

Corinna Cluckey volunteers in Banner Boswell’s surgery family waiting room.

Lauren Harrell, 15, works on a program called “Life Stories” at Banner Del E. Webb, where she interviews patients about their lives, then writes up their stories to place in bedside frames. The stories provide nurses and other caregivers with personal perspectives about a patient before he or she was admitted into the unit. Lauren hopes to be a physician assistant and work in a neonatal unit one day.

After interviewing patients, Lauren creates a “life story” narrative, which helps Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center staff better understand their patients.

For more information on volunteer opportunities, visit bannerhealth.com or call the Volunteer Services departments of Banner Del E. Webb at 623-214-4058 or Banner Boswell at 623-876-5382. — Sadie Smeck

Meeting the moms

As Community Relations Manager, it’s my job to mingle.  I voraciously eat up any and all feedback about the magazine in order to plan events, provide suggestions on content and improve our many resources (directories, e-zine, subscription offers).

However, I had yet to attend a moms group…until last week.

The Laveen MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group invited me to speak at their end-of-the-year meeting. I was a bit nervous as I parked my little Nissan Cube outside the meeting place. Would they be disappointed I wasn’t a mom?

I was instantly put at ease by the mentor mom leading the meeting. Bubbly and talking a mile a minute (just like me!) she introduced me to the other moms and walked me through the agenda.

I could tell I was in for a real treat.

My piece of the program was short – a simple discussion of the mission of Raising Arizona Kids, how we seek to help parents and the resources we have available. The mom’s asked lots of questions and were very responsive.

The best part though was soon-to-come.

Each mom was invited to provide feedback on what they found most valuable about the group. This was eye-opening for me as a person working in the “mom” business. At the end of the meeting, I felt as though I knew each and every woman.

I came in a stranger and left a friend. When’s the next one? =)