Skip to main content
On Wednesday, January 13, 2016, the Health Advocacy Clinic group went on a tour of Hesed House with Elise Manzie, the new Assistant Director of Development at Hesed. Some of the students and I had already been on a tour of the building before while others had not.

I expected that I would not learn anything new on the tour and that it would be as much of a routine as walking around the Comprehensive Resource Center and Aunt Martha’s is to me because I was a part of the HAC last semester. I suspected that I would not feel any differently walking around Hesed than I normally do whenever I walk over there to drop something off or serve lunch. Although I am sensitive to the plights of guests, I did not expect to see anything new or different. Surprisingly, the main emotion that I felt during the tour was a sense of reinvigoration—especially in the TLC playroom. This was mainly due to the nice refresher we received from Elise about the guests and the problems they face, which reminded me why I am here. In actuality, the HAC is a course on my schedule, but it is the only one that allows me to really impact the world around me. When Elise told us about the video where kids were asked to choose between a Playstation for them or a coffee maker their parents wanted touched my heart especially when she said that that kind of behavior frequently occurs at Hesed.

I suspect that I went in to the tour not expecting anything new because going across the street to Hesed has become a sort of routine for me. My feeling of reinvigoration left me refreshed and reminded me why I signed up for this clinic with this particular population.

I probably unconsciously view going to Hesed as a routine so that I don’t get emotional each time I go there. If I did, it would interfere with the job I need to do. As part of my compartmentalization skills, if I were to get upset or emotional every time I saw the sleeping mats, for example, I would not be able to be a proper student attorney because I would be focusing too much on my feelings rather than the tasks at hand.

Yesterday’s experience of re-touring Hesed showed me that I might need to be reminded every so often about why I have elected to spend my Wednesdays at Hesed. I might need to spend more time reflecting on the positive aspects of our involvement there so that things do not become too routine.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Tale of Two Auroras

October 20th was a fairly busy day at the NIU Health Advocacy Clinic. The afternoon started with an interdisciplinary presentation about the roles of social workers from Neil McMenamin, Associate Director of Hesed House. Listening to him describe how faith and the Church led him to help others through social work really inspired me. He also described how he grew up on the east side of Aurora where poverty was not as prevalent as it is by where Hesed is located. This comment made me realize how we can sometimes forget that poverty exists where we least expect. Prior to working at the clinic, I had a much different perception of Aurora. I certainly did not view Aurora as an uber-wealthy suburb like Kenilworth or Wilmette but rather a typical, middle-class Midwestern suburb. The first thing that always came to mind when I thought about Aurora was the Chicago Premium Outlets shopping center which even has a Versace outlet. Homelessness was the last thing that came to mind when t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Power of Attorney Day

On Tuesday, March 27, 2018, the NIU Health Advocacy Clinic will host its annual Power of Attorney (POA) Day. This event provides the guests of PADS and TLC as well as the general Hesed House Community an opportunity to complete a Power of Attorney for Healthcare, free of charge. What is a Power of Attorney for Healthcare? A Power of Attorney is a document that allows you to designate a person of your choice, called a health care agent, to make health care decisions for you in the event that you are unable. For example, if an accident left you in a coma, then your healthcare agent would decide on your behalf whether life-saving measures should be used and if so, which ones. The most important part of picking an agent is ensuring you select someone that knows what your medical wishes are and that you trust will implement your wishes in case you are unable. A Power of Attorney is an important document to have for oneself. This document trumps any influence of family members, fri...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meeting the Client

Prior to this first day meeting my Health Advocacy Clinic (“HAC”) client, the only experience I had with client interviewing was at my graduate assistantship. However, my interactions in those interviews was limited since my supervisor was the lead investigator role. That said, I was finally able to take the “lead” when interviewing my HAC client, and I was truly looking forward to the experience. Before meeting my HAC client, I did a couple things to prepare. One, I made a script of main discussion points that I wanted to be sure to bring up during the interview.  Two, I worked to memorize the first 20-30 seconds of my script so that my interview would have a “natural flow.” This would allow me to quickly build rapport with my client. The day finally came to meet my client and my nerves were getting the best of me in anticipation of his arrival. Ironically, my client had to cancel the meeting and rescheduled for the following week, so I used the additional time to conti...
Post a Comment
Read more