HOPE Volunteers Saving the World—One Coloring Book at a Time

Today found Project HOPE volunteers Sarah Angelo, Carrie Reichert, Elise Chamberlain, and Tina Weitkamp heading for the Jose Pantoja Hijo School, the current main site for Continuing Promise ’09.

Sarah quickly found work tag-teaming the front door of the General Adult Medicine room with HOPE volunteer Marley Gevanthor. After their initial screening process, patients are sent to the appropriate specialists—Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Dentistry, OB, Adult, or whatever the case may be.

Outside of the specialty room, though, the screening continues: “Are you in pain? Where? How badly?” Prescription sheets must be filled out correctly. All of the patients information must match on each piece of paperwork. Marley and Sarah saw to it that all these details were smooth, getting each patient to see their provider that much quicker—which means more patients were seen today.

In the meantime, Carrie, Elise, and Tina set up a preventive medicine/health information booth near the initial triage area, and began teaching dozens of children how and how often to brush their teeth and wash their hands—using crayons and colored chalk as their lesson plan. By the end, I don’t know how many little artists put their masterpieces in Project HOPE’s coloring books, and everyone seemed happy: the educators saw the children learning, the kids were having a blast, and the mothers worrying over sick loved ones had one less thing to worry about for a few hours. Sarah even got a Spanish lesson or two from some 5-year-olds. What better way to teach a child than to have them teach you?)

Thanks for reading-Jacob