What Service Learning Has Meant to Me

Service Learning has been an excellent opportunity to get involved with a good cause as well as open up avenues of academic experience that I had previously not considered. As I become more aware of the magnitude of substance abuse issues and all of the facets of life it effects, I find myself becoming more compassionate toward a group of people that I had previously regarded as irresponsible and unmotivated. I've learned how the intricate dimensions of this disease process can only be combated with an open mind and unbiased actions toward helping the patient find help. I have always viewed the E.R. as kind of the trenches of the hospital. A battlefield in which staff is constantly being bombarded with patient after patient in which the only goal is the stabilization of life. This generalization comes from years of watching patients with potentially life threatening issues with substance abuse be pushed aside as doctors and nurses search for a medical reason to treat these patients rather instead of taking an holistic approach to their overall health. What I have learned is that  acute care can be much more than that. A patients room does not have to be that cold impersonal trench in the battlefield.