OVERVIEW

If you choose to volunteer or work in a non-healthcare related area, make sure you are also getting some shadowing hours (in a variety of specialties and healthcare areas). If you are able to get volunteer or work hours in a healthcare related area, you still need to shadow a variety of specialties and other healthcare areas. Direct-patient/direct-person experience is best: interact often with people of varying age ranges and abilities. Remember that:

1. actually being interested and invested in something you’re passionate about is way more important than just volunteering because you have to get into a health professions school
2. an experience that you have participated in for a longer time (years) is better than many different experiences that you’ve only done for a short time (weeks or months).

While the following is not an exhaustive list — and does not guarantee opportunities available — it is a starting point for ideas around the Kirksville/Northeast Missouri area. There are probably similar places near where you live as well.

SHADOW & VOLUNTEER IDEAS

Healthcare-Specific

• Northeast Regional Medical Center
• Nursing Homes & Assisted Living
  • Kirksville Manor
  • The Pines
  • St. Andrews
  • Premier Home Health
  • Pyramid Home Health Services
• Adair County Health Department
• Chariton Valley Association
• Hospice of Northeast Missouri
• Preferred Family Healthcare
• NEMO Health Council
• Lifeline Pregnancy Help Clinic
• Guide to dental shadowing in Kirksville
• Various doctors’ offices & clinics in and around Kirksville

General

• Hope’s Kitchen
• United Way—Adair County
• Red Cross (Internships)
• Kirksville Habitat for Humanity
• Childcare centers:
  • Kirksville Child Development Center (KCDC)
  • Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC)
  • Adair County YMCA
• Great Circle Kirksville
• NEMO Community Action Agency
• Victim Support Services

OTHER

Healthcare-Related Work Options that Require Some Training (Education or On-The-Job):

• CNA
• Phlebotomist
• Scribe
• EMT (Adair County)
• Chariton Valley Association

Research:

• ATSU
• Research at Truman
• Make connections with professors that you would be interested in doing research with

International Medical Trips:

• DOCare
• Medical Ministry International (MMI)
• GlobeMed
• International Service Learning

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER WHILE SHADOWING & VOLUNTEERING

• What is it like to be a health professional in this setting?
• What did I learn from this interaction with the patient/person about:
  • the patient/person’s illness/issue?
  • what’s going on in the patient/person’s life that may affect the illness/issue?
  • the doctor-patient relationship?
  • the importance of spending enough time with the patient/case?
  • the importance of engaged listening without interruption?
  • how the health professional reasons and makes decisions?
• What did I learn from the patient (not just about the patient)? What did the patient teach me?
• What did I learn about what it is really like to be a health professional?

Keep a reflective journal about all of your experiences. These reflections will be useful for applying to pre-health professions school as well as during admissions interviews.

Still unsure where to start. Check out these Local Shadowing Opportunities in Kirksville [PDF].