Get me a CBC stat and run the IV wide open with Ringers!

If the opening scene of ER makes your pulse race, maybe you should try volunteering in a hospital. While it's unlikely that many teens will find themselves assisting George Clooney look-alikes through critical medical emergencies, helping out in a hospital does have other rewards. Not only do you help people in a time of need, but you also get some firsthand insight into the field of health care.

When you can make a kid smile and maybe even forget that she's sitting in a hospital room for a moment, you feel great.

Emily, 21, a kid-loving nutrition major in college, volunteers four hours a week on the pediatrics floor of her local hospital. Basically, her job is to play with the kids. She gives stressed-out parents a much-needed break from their constant bedside vigils. She also helps amuse the young siblings of patients which helps parents who are stretched thin between children.

Kathy O'Reilly, Child Life Assistant, praises the volunteers who, she says, Help us give quality care to a larger number of patients through activities and respite for the families. They are very much appreciated by both staff and families.

While acknowledging that working with sick children can be hard, Emily says, Knowing that you're helping them through a rough time makes it all worth it.

After a general hospital volunteer orientation on basic issues of patient confidentiality and protocol, Emily shadowed members of the Child Life team, before working independently. Each day when she arrives, a Child Life team member briefs her on the patients who may need some special attention. Sometimes Emily helps with organized arts and crafts or other activities for kids who can get to the play space. With those who cannot leave their rooms, she might engage in a bedside video game battle or sit patiently through endless rounds of Candy Land.

Emily stresses that to enjoy this type of volunteering you must be patient and have an interest in children. You must also understand the hospital situation and know when it is necessary to get out of the way quickly. (Due to the maturity level required, volunteers at Emily's hospital on the pediatrics floor must be at least 16. Check with your local hospital about their volunteer age limits and see below for other ideas of ways to help if you are younger.)

Emily sums up volunteering in pediatrics, You have to put effort into it to get something out of it. Sometimes you need to walk in and offer help since families don't always ask. But when you can make a kid smile and maybe even forget that she's sitting in a hospital room for a moment, you feel great.

Hospitals offer a wide variety of volunteer opportunities from helping with Rehabilitation Therapy (usually in an outpatient unit -- perhaps swimming weekly with the same patient) to general Patient Support Services like our next featured volunteer.

The first time I walked into a room to move a patient and saw they had an IV running into their arm, I knew I needed help to make sure that IV stayed attached to the patient as we moved!

For a year and a half, Kristen, 17, has volunteered at her hospital for two hours a week during the school year, adding additional hours in the summer. Her responsibilities as a Patient Support Services volunteer supplement the work of hospital orderlies. She does everything from moving patients -- to pharmacy and lab runs -- to delivering equipment and paperwork. Kristen is interested in becoming a nurse and says, In addition to helping people, I've gotten a great sense of how a hospital works. I know the whole place since I'm always running from one end to the other. And the work is fun because it's so varied and you're always busy.

In fact, Kristen says that, when she becomes a nurse, she will definitely appreciate the orderlies ... because she knows exactly how hard they work!

Although Kristen's volunteer work does not focus on patient contact like Emily's, she enjoys talking with patients to get their perspective when she is moving them to a new room or floor. She recommends that interested teens make sure they feel comfortable talking with a variety of people and can admit when they need help. The first time I walked into a room to move a patient and saw they had an IV running into their arm, I knew I needed help to make sure that IV stayed attached to the patient as we moved!

If this type of volunteering sounds right for you...

Call your local hospital's volunteer office to find out about opportunities.

Even if you are younger than the volunteer age limit set by your local hospital, you can still help out. Kathy O'Reilly, Child Life Assistant at Fletcher Allen Hospital, gave us the following examples of how school classes, girl scout troops and even individual families have raised spirits on their pediatrics floor:

• You can make gifts or raise money to buy gifts to hand out to patients. (Not just in December!)
• Consider performing a play/puppet show/concert for the patients and their families.
• An eighth grade class raised money and bought used videos for the patient movie library.
• One family dresses up each year at Halloween and trick or treats from room to room giving out candy.
• If a classmate or friend is hospitalized, send a huge package of homemade cards from everyone in the class or neighborhood.
• Raise money for and/or ask companies if they will donate specific large toys or electronics (computers/video game machines) which your hospital could use.