The Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday is marked as a day of service to honor Dr. King’s legacy of service—a “day on, not a day off.” If you’re building your resume while attending Denver School of Nursing, volunteering can be an important addition to your healthcare skills toolbox. Volunteering can sharpen your nursing skills, help you discover a passion, and boost your resume. Giving back benefits your community, but it also benefits you, too. Studies show volunteerism improves physical and mental health, provides purpose, and nurtures relationships. Have you considered it?
Here are some ideas to get you started.
Your local hospital. Many hospitals offer volunteer positions to nursing students and the general public. You may not be administering medication or taking vitals, but volunteering in a hospital is a great way to gain experience with a nursing specialty that’s caught your attention.
American Red Cross. Founded in 1881, this organization relies on volunteers. You could help with disaster preparedness in your community (explore ARC of Colorado for opportunities), assist with blood drives, work as a blood transportation specialist, help with vaccine or first-aid stations, or respond to a local emergency as part of a team.
Project Sunshine. Like working with children? Project Sunshine is an organization that brings play and smiles to children in hospitals. While it won’t use nursing skills directly, it could be a way to find out if you like working with children. Conveniently, Denver has a community chapter.
National Association of Free and Charitable Clinics. This organization relies on volunteers to help provide healthcare to medically underserved people in your community. Nursing and dental students are welcome. Run a search to see if Denver or its surrounding area offers these clinics.
Hospice Foundation. Many nursing students prefer working with younger patients, but hospice organizations provide many critical services to families and patients of all ages, not just the elderly. If caring for terminal patients doesn’t seem like your thing, you could volunteer to provide administrative work, childcare, assistance to the bereavement staff, or respite care for family members. You can find local chapters with a Google search—take a look at The Denver Hospice as a starting place.
Try a database. With many databases you can sort by interest or location to find relevant opportunities.
- VolunteerMatch is one of the largest databases for volunteers, connecting 15.2 million people to organizations globally.
- JustServe. Search by project, organization, or zip code.
- Idealist. Lists jobs, internships, and volunteer opportunities for more than 120,000 organizations. Search by interest and location.
During your volunteer experience, it’s a good idea to keep a record of where and when you volunteered, along with hours worked and what you did. Your experience might even lead to valuable letters of recommendation if you volunteered somewhere long enough.
Interested in starting or leveling up your nursing career? Denver College of Nursing can help you explore your nursing education options. For more information, click here or call us today at (800) 600-6604 to speak to one of our career advisors.