Meet IHC intern Jeff DiDaniels

Name:  Jeff DiDaniels

Age:  22

Place of Birth:  Chester Heights, Pennsylvania

How did you first hear about IHC? I first heard about IHC from two of my friends and classmates at the University of Richmond.  Both volunteer for the organization and often told me stories about picking families up at the airport, taking children to the zoo and accompanying patients to medical appointments.  After I heard these stories, I researched the organization online.  Once I understood the mission and values of IHC, I knew I needed to get involved so I signed up to be a volunteer and later applied for an internship position.

What was your first impression of IHC? I didn’t know what to expect about IHC until I researched the organization online and met with the volunteer director.  Until that point, I was not sure if IHC was a children’s hospital in Richmond or if there was an actual hospital somewhere else internationally.  Once I learned that IHC is a “hospital without walls” and that the organization sends medical professionals on international medical mission trips and brings the especially difficult pediatric cases to Richmond hospitals for treatment, I was even more impressed.  I was also amazed that so many doctors and nurses would dedicate their time and other resources to help provide quality healthcare to children who are in need by traveling abroad or providing free healthcare.

What has been your most memorable experience since interning with IHC? I currently serve as the intern for the We Send program so I don’t work directly with the patients or their families.  My experiences have involved preparing the medical supplies and paperwork for the medical mission trips, researching medical conditions and other non-profit organizations, and assisting the We Send program staff in many other regards.  All of this work has taught me a great deal about both the non-profit and the healthcare industry. 

What has surprised you most about interning with IHC? I was surprised to find out how much work goes into planning each medical mission trip.  Everything from finding physicians and nurses to commit vacation time to the trip to getting a medical supply company to donate the necessary supplies takes a ton of time and work.  So much needs to be completed before the physicians and nurses even get on the plane to leave for the trip.  Without IHC’s staff working so diligently behind the scenes, these medical professionals would not be able to donate their time and skills.

What do you find most challenging as an intern? IHC is a very busy place, there is always a lot that needs to get accomplished and every task seems to be extremely important.  I found it very challenging to prioritize my responsibilities.  I am a Type A person so I like to complete each task before moving to the next but that is very unrealistic as an IHC intern.  Even though this has been particularly challenging for me, it has also taught me a great deal about prioritizing my tasks and about the importance of efficiency.

What do you wish other people knew about IHC? I wish that people knew exactly what it is IHC does on a day to day basis and how important that work is to children around the world.   

Why made you chose to explore an internship at IHC opposed to other groups? After volunteering for IHC, I knew that I wanted to increase my involvement.  I knew how important the work I was doing as a volunteer was but I believed that I could do even more by dedicating more time and accepting more responsibility as an intern.  Also, I plan to pursue a career in healthcare administration so I thought that gaining experience in the non-profit sector would provide a very interesting perspective on healthcare.

Meet IHC Intern Deborah Me

Name – Deborah Me

Age – 19

Occupation – college student

Place of Birth – Piscataway, New Jersey

How did you first get involved with IHC? How did you hear about IHC?  I was a volunteer at the National Student Partnerships of Richmond.  When Tempa Klinegores, one of the site coordinators, found out that I was a Spanish and Biology major on the pre-medicine track at VCU, she thought that working with the International Hospital for Children would suit me very well and notified Lauren Faig, the volunteer director of IHC at the time, of my interest in volunteering.  I started volunteering at the IHC in the spring of 2009.

What was your first impression of IHC? How do you imagine your day to day work activities to go?  When Lauren was explaining to me the mission of IHC and what they did on a regular basis at my volunteer orientation, I knew immediately that I wanted to get involved with this organization.  It combined almost all of my interests into one: children, medicine and multi-cultural interaction. 

What do you hope to learn while interning at IHC?  I hope to find out more about the requirements of develop an NGO and also learn other ways to make healthcare available to children everywhere.

What are your feelings about your internship at IHC? Apprehensive? Prepared?  I’m pretty excited.

What do you expect will be your greatest challenge in interning at IHC?  I am not an early riser, so my biggest challenge will be getting up early in the morning to start my day at IHC.

In what areas do you expect to excel at IHC?  Organization and attention to detail are my stronger points, so I hope that comes in handy to the IHC staff.

What made you chose to intern with IHC as opposed to other groups?  I love working with children, and being a doctor has been a longtime goal of mine.  In the last few years I have considered the possibility of traveling and practicing medicine in another country, or doing social work there.  IHC’s mission of providing healthcare to children regardless of geography seems to parallel my own interests very closely.  I loved doing volunteer work with the IHC already, so I wanted to get more involved.

Welcoming IHC’s New Intern: Jordan Fisher

Name: Jordan Fisher

Age: 21

Occupation: Student at University of Richmond

Place of Birth: Abington, Pennsylvania

How did you first get involved with IHC?: I heard about IHC through a friend, Kristin Bushby, who interned this summer and via an email from the International Office of Education at UR.

What was your first impression of IHC?: I was very excited when I first received the email about IHC intern opportunities.  As I browsed the website and learned more about IHC I became really interested and knew this was the internship for me.  I am not too sure what to expect for my daily activities, but I have heard from other interns how great the experience is and how IHC is a hands-on learning environment.  Basically I imagine my daily work to involve office work that allows me to experience the “behind the scenes” of an NGO.

What do you hope to learn while interning at IHC? : While interning at IHC I would like to learn more about how an NGO works and also look into translating opportunities.  I would also like to learn more about career opportunities with NGOs like IHC.

What are your feelings about your internship at IHC?: I am a little apprehensive about my first day at IHC but have heard nothing but great things so I am mostly excited to get started and meet new people!

What do you expect will be your greatest challenge during your internship? : As of right now I think my greatest challenge will be getting over my first day nerves since this is my first internship!  Other than that I am coming into this internship with a relaxed, positive outlook.

In what areas do you expect to excel at IHC? : All of my extracurricular and past waitressing experiences have really helped me to become more outgoing, goal-oriented, and a good contributor.  I feel like these strengths will help me excel in group work as well as individual work and acclimating myself to a new work environment.

What made you chose the IHC internship as opposed to other groups?: I was drawn to the IHC internship by two factors. First, the relationship with the Spanish language, as I have completed a minor in Latin American and Iberian studies and studied at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona for a semester, and am always looking for new opportunities to practice and learn Spanish.  Second, I have always aspired to work with children in an NGO setting.  I was unsure of how to break into this type of work and when I heard about the IHC internship I thought it was too good to be true.  The IHC internship combined these two desires and provided a great learning opportunity for this semester.

A summer of growth: My experience interning at IHC

To begin, I would like to start on a truthful note with a statement about myself.  I am not a people person.  I am shy and somewhat awkward, preferring a relaxing afternoon spent thumbing through books I have read a hundred times to meeting new people.  This, however, is not a quality upon which I pride myself, so I vowed to spend my summer putting myself in situations that necessitated the suppression of my raging timidity.  I vowed to discover a new side of myself: an outgoing, personable, and people-loving side of myself.

Upon hearing about International Hospital for Children (IHC), I realized it was the perfect place in which to begin my journey of self-improvement.  IHC, a non-profit, focuses on improving the lives of children in Central America and the Caribbean by providing them with the surgeries and medical care they could not receive given the facilities in their native countries.  IHC consists of two primary programs: WE SEND and WE BRING.  WE SEND coordinates trips to nations to review cases and conduct surgeries, and WE BRING brings children who cannot be treated in their home countries to Richmond for their procedures. 

As I proceeded to research the IHC internship, I found that interns are primarily involved with the WE BRING program, attending to the needs of families in Richmond in addition to completing administrative tasks in the IHC office.  “What better way to transform myself than to interact constantly with families in both English and Spanish while simultaneously being a part of so noble an organization?” I thought as I immediately submitted a resume to the program.  I envisioned myself, chattering away in Spanish with a mother while laughing and playing with her child, who just underwent a successful surgery.  I remained confident that I would no doubt be the friendliest and most outgoing person around after a summer spent with IHC.

Having nearly completed my IHC internship, however, I have realized that the organization has changed me in ways I never imagined.  Instead of transforming me instantly into the outgoing person I longed to be, IHC has showed me that my priorities and goals have been wrong all along.  The light bulb moment came a mere three weeks into my internship, as I stood in a cramped elevator with a woman named Dianne, the mother of Davion, a sixteen-year-old boy who received heart surgery in Richmond for his rheumatic heart disorder.  Dianne was preparing to return home to Jamaica with her son, and I had just brought her several boxes from her family members in Baltimore.  In an effort to make conversation, I asked her how she “liked it here,” referring to the Hospital Hospitality House, one of the residences for families brought to Richmond for surgery.  She proceeded to graciously thank me and everyone at IHC, describing her awe at the time and dedication IHC staff and volunteers put into helping her son.  Expecting a description of the food or accommodations at the HHH, I was taken aback by Dianne’s outpouring of gratitude and thanks.  In that moment, I discovered the real meaning of my internship at IHC.  I realized this summer was not about altering my personality to become someone I am not, but rather it was about using the skills and the qualities I do possess in order to affect change in the lives of others.  From picking up food from Kroger to driving patients to their appointments and creating folders for them during their stay, I have used my abilities to help make the lives of these families a little more comfortable while they endure hardships many of us will thankfully never face. 

That is not to say that I have not grown or changed at all during my time at IHC.  In fact, quite the opposite has occurred. While I have not blossomed into the talkative and personable social butterfly I originally envisioned, I have discovered the many positive characteristics that I already possess, such as my diligence and punctuality, which can be used to help others effectively.  On one of the final days of my internship, I awoke at a staggering four a.m. in order to pick up Javed and Mary, a Jamaican boy and his mother who had been in Richmond since the start of my internship.  They were returning home on an early morning flight to Kingston, and I was responsible for transporting them to the airport.  I had only helped Javed once before and knew that I had not left an indelible impression with any sort of winning conversation or witty anecdotes, so I did not anticipate an overly affectionate farewell from the family.  Much to my surprise, however, Javed and Mary insisted on taking pictures with me in the airport parking lot and then smothered me with two massive hugs, as we departed at the security checkpoint. 

That experience cemented the knowledge that I have been gaining all summer— the knowledge that it is not only a gregarious personality that leaves an impression in the minds of others, but hard work, dedication, and passion as well.  Fortunately, my internship has shown me that I already possess these qualities, and if I apply them with a little mix of creativity and a big smile, that can make all the difference.  IHC has helped me to realize that I do not have to be someone I am not in order to leave my mark on the world, and for that I am forever grateful. 

By Anna, IHC intern and student at the University of Virginia

IHC Intern Profile: Jenna Garber

Name: Jenna Garber

Age: 21

Place of Birth: Ephrata, Pennsylvania

How did you first hear about IHC? I first heard about IHC through the Bonner Scholars program at the University of Richmond. I got the opportunity to volunteer with IHC as a sophomore and loved it! When I decided to stay in Richmond for the summer, interning at IHC was at the top of my list.

What was your first impression of IHC? Working in the IHC office during the first week of my internship, I was impressed by the well-organized nature of day-to-day business, but more importantly the genuine dedication of all the IHC staff. It was obvious to me that they love playing a part in IHC’s very important work.

What has been your most memorable experience since interning with IHC? Spending time with the IHC families is always a really rewarding part of my internship. It is especially rewarding, though, to see the progression of an IHC family from start to finish, as I did with Ronald and his mother Anselina: their arrival, the successful surgery, a healthy recovery, and then their return home. Knowing that the child departs from Richmond with a new outlook on life, and knowing that I contributed to that in some small way, is the greatest feeling.

What has surprised you most about interning with IHC? Every day I am shocked to discover another facet of IHC’s incredibly significant work. Although bringing children to Richmond for surgeries is a large part of what IHC does, it is by no means the entire picture. They send surgical teams all year round to their six partner countries and heal hundreds of children that way, too. They put together a beautiful auction to raise money, they organize surgical teaching clinics, and they are constantly looking for new ways to expand their work and reach more children in need.

What do you find most challenging as an intern? Interacting with the IHC families, although it is very gratifying, can sometimes be challenging. I have been learning how to find common ground with people who are very different from me and have very distinct life experiences. It’s not easy, but it’s a great skill to develop, and I’m constantly surprised at how much we have in common when we do a little digging.

What do you wish other people knew about IHC? I wish other people knew just how easy it is and how many volunteer opportunities there are at IHC! Our visiting families are away from their homes, their friends and families, and can feel uncomfortable in a new environment, especially going through a difficult surgery. The IHC volunteers not only transport the families to and from medical appointments and visit the children in the hospital, but they also introduce our families to the city of Richmond and make them feel as at-home as possible. Take them to a park, a festival, the zoo, a museum, a movie, cook them dinner, have a craft day, just get to know them! It’s so flexible, and the families appreciate it so much.

What made you choose to explore an internship at IHC opposed to other groups? With IHC I am able to utilize my Spanish in a very practical way, which is really gratifying. I also chose IHC because I get the opportunity to interact with a variety of people, in and out of the office: young children, adults, professionals, people from different cultures, you name it! Every day brings a different experience; it is by no means a sedentary desk-job!