NURSE VOLUNTEERISM- Advance Your Career and Your Passion by Letting Volunteering Work for You
- Wilfredo Jr. Bernante
- Mar 23, 2019
- 7 min read
BY WILFREDO JR. BERNANTE
From a young age, I have always been drawn to the medical field. I remember being a small child and visiting the home of my aunt, who was a midwife in the small town I grew up in the Philippines. Her house was always full of medical supplies, which I would secretly play with, and I would imagine myself dispensing medicine out of the vials and playing doctor with the syringes. As far back as I can remember, I have been fascinated with these “toys” because I wanted to become a doctor or a health care professional so that I could help heal the sick. At the time, it hadn’t yet occurred to me that there could be other factors affecting my professional choices, things like earning potential and the ability for a particular job to facilitate traveling. As I grew up, with the guidance of my parents, I began to consider all kinds of options for my career and life. Eventually, I pursued the field of nursing because I believed that it would be a great way to fulfill my childhood desire of helping people and my continued desire to work abroad and hold my dreams eternally deep in my grasp. After graduating from college, I flew to Denmark and experienced as an Au Pair. Two years later, I began working full-time in Oslo, Norway, as an auxiliary nurse. Now, I spend my time working as a registered nurse both in a nursing home and in a Municipal Emergency Day Care Unit in Oslo, as well as volunteering in Oslo Red Cross.
Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. - Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within
Work-Related Stress vs. Low Employee Morale
During my time as a health care worker, I have witnessed the struggles of numerous colleagues, many of whom share similar problems. Having remained in the same position for years, some nurses become exhausted and discontent because of their redundant routines. Some are complaining over increasing workloads, unsupportive employers, and the overall tax that semi-physical labour can take on a person’s body. But with the common occurrence of seemingly long wait times for salary increases or even financial independence, many nurses find themselves unmotivated and struggle to find a way out of their predicament.
But what good is it for anyone to have health care providers focused on their high bills and lamenting their presence at work? What health care system thrives when workers are watching the clock during every shift, desperate to be finished, only to go home and be too exhausted and miserable to find the joy in their own lives? None, and so the cycle perpetuates and all suffer: nurses, patients, families, and communities. The excitement a person feels for the few weeks of paid vacation they get should not be comparable to a prisoner being granted leniency but instead to winning a gold medal—a valuable reward for something passionately earned.
Eureka!
While observing these more senior nurses and their struggles, I often thought about how I wanted to avoid similar pitfalls. I didn’t want to experience the kind of dissatisfaction and unhappiness that I was watching them endure. But how would I be able to maintain my enthusiasm and pride in this profession that I love so dearly? How would I find a balance between taking care of myself and others, between the needs of the community I wanted to serve and my own financial needs? In the beginning, I didn’t have any answers. All I knew was that I had to keep looking until I found a solution that would help both me and my fellow nurses overcome and prevent the drawbacks of our profession.
In 2016, while volunteering again in Oslo Red Cross, which I have started three years ago, I found my answer. I was volunteering as part of a group recruiting new blood donors. Then I remember feeling all the same feelings that I had as a child playing at my aunt’s home—wanting nothing more than to follow my “calling” to save lives and make a difference. Volunteering was what gave energy to my career as a nurse and purpose and joy to my life. I wasn’t just “doing my job”; I was forming community and effecting change. It was then and there that I made the decision to use my nursing expertise for the broader community. I knew that there was real value, much greater than the monetary kind, in not only providing the care of my profession for others but also in finding a way to offer a different kind of care to the providers themselves.
Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you. - Zig Ziglar, See You at the Top
Giving More to Save Yourself
So when is the right time to volunteer? The conditions of your life will never be perfect for because perfection doesn’t exist. Because of the demands of the job, nurses may already feel overburdened. As we all know, the profession of nursing can be as taxing as it is rewarding. The toll of patient care can result in things like: moral distress, compassion fatigue, feelings of powerlessness, etc.. All of which can have lasting effects and lead to feelings of dissatisfaction, declining energy, depersonalization, feelings of incompetence and eventually burnout due to psychological stress and somatic complaints. Furthermore, research has revealed that nurses experiencing burnout have been found to be more likely to eat poorly, smoke cigarettes, and abuse alcohol and other drugs, all of which can lead to negative health conditions and diminished well-being.
Studies have shown that regaining feelings of power both inside and outside of the workplace have shown to greatly decrease job stress. In life, much of what affects us is out of our control. The workplace is no different. What we do have control over is our own personal development and psychological well-being. But how exactly does a person become self-empowered? Two words: Volunteering abroad.
The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. - Mahatma Gandhi
It Takes a Village
Volunteering provides numerous benefits to nurses, regardless of whether they already be feeling burn out or are looking to prevent it. The global community is in desperate need of volunteers, and yet the volunteer rate has been dropping for over a decade. Statistics show that the number of UN Volunteers has been in steady decline since 2005 (with the United states showing a similar trend). Many have speculated on the causes for this decline offering possible explanations like increasing cost of living, high rates of unemployment, and financial instability after several global economic failures. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there has been a sharp decline in the number of volunteers within the demographic who had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
As countries around the globe struggle to keep their economies on track, often the first line in budgets to get cut are contributions to non-profits. The decrease of resource investment leads to the denial of many vital services, thus making volunteers even more critical during times like these. But where can volunteers be found when people are overworked and struggling to meet their own needs?
Many nurses don’t volunteer because they are focused on establishing their life completely first. They want to establish themselves in specialties and get rich so they can accomplish all their dreams at once—travel the world, build a dream house, buy a fancy car, etc.. Young nurses may even consider volunteering a waste of time, fearful that it would delay or even deter them from accomplishing their goals.
If your motivation for acquiring money or success comes from a non-supportive root such as fear, anger, or the need to “prove” yourself, your money will never bring you happiness.T. Harv Eker, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth
But these are all just misconceptions because volunteering can actually be a faster way to accomplishing your dreams. Because of their high level of skill and training, nurses are needed everywhere. Volunteering abroad allows nurses to travel and visit exciting places around the world while the valuable experience gained from doing so can speed up career development. Not to mention perhaps the most important factors—volunteering builds confidence and infuses life with excitement. Both of which are important to counteract the negative consequences of the job itself and prevent burn out. Finally, the experience of volunteering can lead to many great passive income opportunities for nurses that they wouldn’t otherwise have. Needless to say that by giving more, in the right way, nurses have all the potential to make much, much more.
Earn More Passively and Give More Actively
Passive income is income earned on a regular basis with little effort required. As such, it works perfectly to supplement the loss or decrease in income nurses incurred, while they are away saving lives and changing their own through volunteering. Nurses are highly skilled individuals with a large bank of knowledge at their disposal. They are exposed to varied and interesting situations which offer them a chance to learn from, empathize with, and ponder through self-discovery. This knowledge and experience presents them with a unique perspective for other income opportunities like motivational speaking, teaching online courses, and consulting. A nurse could easily translate their skills into writing instruction manuals, resource guides, and even putting together specialty first aid kits to be sold online. Writing is a great opportunity for passive income and shouldn’t even be limited to strictly knowledge-based possibilities but could also include endeavors like blogging, personal memoirs, and even vlogging (video blogging). In addition, nurses looking to volunteer abroad, have a passive income option of renting out their apartments or homes and other properties while they’re away. Lastly, earnings from internet advertisements on websites as well as earnings from businesses that do not require direct involvement from the owners or merchants are perfect examples of passive income streams, that will not just help nurses to afford volunteer travels, but also achieve financial freedom and early retirement. The latter allows nurses to give more time to their families and to their passions and missions in life; a life they love to live.
Don't work for the money; let the money work for you. - Robert Kiyosaki, Rich Dad, Poor Dad
The Best Time is Now!
My mission with this endeavor is to unite nurses around the world through our shared passion of volunteerism. I want to create an international community of nurse volunteers where we can feel a sense of pride and belonging. A place where we can share stories about volunteering and traveling, exchange our passive income ideas, and perhaps even to facilitate the creation of smaller groups of nurses to organize grassroots events and projects in their own countries. Finally, I think that if we work together, we can raise funds for causes that we’re most passionate about for future volunteer projects both locally and abroad.
Thus, I welcome all the nurses out there who similarly share a passion for helping others and getting the most out of life to join me on this journey.
Finally, if you have any questions or comments related to my story, nurse volunteerism, or passive income ideas, then feel free to post them in the comments section below. I don’t always have Internet access, but I will respond to all comments as soon as possible!
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/765974_2
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2668/
http://www.cheatsheet.com/business/why-a-drop-in-volunteering-is-bad-for-everyone.html/?a=viewall
Comments