Candystriper

One of the blogger friends that I follow recently blogged about how her sister talked her in to volunteering in a hospital when she was a girl.  She was all for working an hour a day thinking she would be reading books to little kids.  Instead, they put her in a geriatric hospital doing much more than reading little books.  It was a cute story and you can read it on Jane's blog here.  It brought to mind a time when I was a girl and my mom and I had visited someone in the hospital.  I saw some girls my age dressed in these cute red and white striped pinafores and learned that they were volunteers in the hospital.  I loved those little striped jumpers and thought it would be really cool to be a Candy Striper.  A friend and I looked into it and we were told that with just a few training classes, we would be given a uniform and we could start volunteering.  I remember being told that our job would be taking library books and magazines to patients, delivering flowers and cheering up the patients. Besides, it might be nice to be a nurse someday.

During the first training session, we learned how to make beds.  I wondered why we were learning to make beds, but I did what I was told and I could fold those corners with the best of them - no fitted sheets back then.  Next we learned about bed pans and I knew I was in trouble.  Hey, no fair!  Where were the magazines and the pretty flowers?  Why was I not cheering up patients?   Why was I not being told how to flit in and out of the hospital hallways looking cute and having fun like those other girls I saw?  They must have changed the job description.

I lasted about six weeks on my first job of volunteering.  I was never so glad in all my life to get rid of something as I was the day I turned in that ugly red and white uniform.  And I had a whole new respect for nurses.