<p>Hi,</p>
<p>DS is a freshman in ChemEngr with med school aspirations. He's doing well grade-wise and has been accepted as a volunteer with his school's "fish camp" summer camp. This will require approx 100 hours of prep work during the summer and then a week in August.</p>
<p>He also has a job (retail, nothing medical related). He has worked there before so they are nice & flexible with his scheduling and he needs the money.</p>
<p>What would you recommend to fill out his summer? Trying to find a medically-related volunteer position? Finding some kind of shadowing opportunities? I know some of the hospitals/organizations put on camps for terminally ill kids/siblings..sometimes kids of parents who are sick...these wouldn't be actually dealing with anything medical of course, but no guarantee he'd get anything medical even through a hospital. Most kids end up working at a desk or running errands for the staff. </p>
<p>Please let us know what you think is best. We have no real "medical contacts" to find easy shadowing opportunities.</p>
<p>Re: medical shadowing… has your son checked out the pre-med club on his college campus? Most schools have them and some clubs arrange shadowing and medical volunteering opportunities. If there is a hospital near the college, he needs to contact their volunteer office when he returns in the fall and see if they accept volunteers. Some do; some don’t. There’s huge regional variation in volunteer policies.</p>
<p>Do you have a primary care physician? If you do, your son might ask him or her about shadowing them. (My kids’ ped let D2 spend a few days in the office. My family practice doc also let my kids shadow him for a couple of days.) If you go to a clinic rather than a primary care practice–it still doesn’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Has he contacted local hospitals? Nursing homes? Hospices? All these place can be medical volunteering options for the summer. </p>
<p>If he can’t find any medical shadowing/volunteering options, then he needs to get involved in some sort of community service program. (It doesn’t really matter which one so long as he’s an active, regular volunteer.)</p>