October: Return to Manning Family Children's

October 2025

October Hrs: 12

Cumulative: 21

This month, I resumed volunteering with Manning Family Children’s in the 2 Center Playroom and Teen Lounge. I’ve done this for two summers, and now that I’m back in New Orleans, I can continue volunteering here during the school year. My duties included going into patient rooms and inviting eligible patients to the playroom/teen lounge and supervising them. During one shift in the teen room, I helped a patient who was about to get discharged write thank you cards to nurses and doctors, and play a round of Connect 4 with him (I lost). During a shift in the playroom, I had nine patients in the playroom, and was making sure all the patients were safe, and made sure they got all of the toys, board games, and arts and crafts, and even showed a patient a magic trick that I learned. One time in the playroom, I was a faithful customer in the play diner for a patient. On October 15th, Manning Family Children’s had a halloween party for the patients, where I guided patients through a haunted house that was in the Teen Room, while also ensuring patients got costumes. I got in the Halloween spirit myself and dressed as Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes myself (shown above), in which my costume got a lot of compliments from patients and parents. 

In the classroom, I am learning a lot of interesting things about the CV system drugs and the mechanisms, such as the mechanisms of the cardiovascular system, anesthesia drugs, and hypolipidemics, which honestly, I never thought about until now. I’m starting to get the hang of preparing for the modules, and I have especially enjoyed the JiTT style modules, as I get to immerse myself in material before coming to class, and using class to refine what I’ve learned the previous day.