Personal Narrative: My Experience At The Salvation Army
I cannot wait for the opportunity at the Salvation Army. I have always heard about the wonderful things that the Salvation does for individuals and families, but I have never gotten the chance to experience it for myself. I have learned recently that there is a vulnerable population that comes to the Salvation Army for assistance, the homeless and people in poverty. To care for a vulnerable population in their own environment I think will make me really sad and grateful at the same time. It will make me very sad because I usually get sad over the less fortunate and want to help them whichever way I can. At the same time, it will make me feel grateful, and make me reflect back every so often on the greatness in my life. I think our society does not realize how much goodness we really have compared to third world countries. There are millions of people suffering out there and including myself, we do not always hear about them. This experience is giving me the opportunity to care for a vulnerable population in deep desirable need. I have
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not had any experience with the homeless or people in poverty out in society, such as the Salvation Army, but I have had lots of experience at the hospital in the emergency room with these clients where I work. Many times when a homeless person came to the emergency room, he/she usually came by ambulance because some bystander found he/she lying on the ground, either in Cameron Park downtown or on the sidewalk in the city somewhere. After further evaluation, most of the time he/she is very intoxicated with blood alcohol levels above 0.3 and has no difficulties due to the tolerance to alcohol. He/she will then usually state they had three fourths of a 1.5 bottle of liquor. He/she is usually very uncooperative, almost always incontinent of urine/feces, and also always filthy dirty from living outside. I had a circumstance once where a homeless male patient came in from the park and he had maggots infested all over his groin. As healthcare professionals, we take the time to clean theses individuals up, and then proceed to admit them for detox or find them resources to have a better quality of life. We still treat them like normal human beings, are not condescending, and do not make it obvious that they are homeless to individuals near by. These people need lots of support to improve their lives, and we are there for them by their sides. Even though I have had the experiences in the emergency with homeless and poverty patients, I still learned a lot of new information after reviewing the chapter and looking at the websites. There are two types of poverty, crisis and persistent. Crisis poverty is brief for individuals and they may stay in shelters for short periods of time due to domestic violence or eviction from their apartment (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Persistent poverty is when individuals are homeless chronically and live in shelters for long periods of time due to rehab or ongoing assistance (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Although there are defined different types of poverty, I think our society truly reflects upon the homeless and individuals in poverty as deserving or undeserving. Deserving poverty is people in poverty classified as deserving assistance if the reason they are in poverty is out of their control, such as widows, orphaned children, chronic illnesses not caused by personal failure (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Undeserving poor individuals are considered alcoholics, prostitutes, mentally ill persons, and those considered lazy are considered undeserving because society thinks they can control those factors (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). I think society uses these two labels when analyzing poor or homeless people. Poverty refers to people who have lack of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, or medical care (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Many people may be lacking all of these factors, or some people are in desirable need of food for their family. To have ones family be considered in the poverty level, a family of four lives on an income of $22,350 dollars or below (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). This might seem like a really low number with two parents potentially having jobs, but it is not because many people in poverty do not have jobs and live in harsh conditions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “In 2007, 37.3 million people had income below the federal poverty level; about 18% were younger than 18 years of age” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 739). The number of children in poverty or homeless is on the rise amongst adults. The most likely person to be homeless is a single male (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). This could be shocking to some. When looking at a homeless person’s environment, he/she usually lives in boxcars, on building roofs, in doorways, or under freeways (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Due to the rare unsheltered and dirty environments homeless individuals live in, they are at great risk for many health problems. Homeless individuals are at risk for hypothermia or hyperthermia, infestations, peripheral vascular disease, tuberculosis, AIDS, trauma, foot problems, malnutrition, alcohol problems, mental illnesses, and depression (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). All of these problems above could lead to serious health problems and potentially death. At the Salvation Army, we are there to educate them on these health problems and how they can be prevented. When reflecting on my beliefs and values, I do believe that society needs to help out the homeless more than we do.
I believe there are a lot of bystanders on the street that do not take initiative to help someone in desperate need. I think it is sad that in the last few years there has been an increase amount of individuals who sit by the stop lights out by the mall and hold up signs asking for money. I feel society gets the deserve/underserve picture from them. I feel like many of them are not homeless because they sit out there asking for money when they are dressed nicely and groomed like someone who is not in need of money, but it may just be an assumption. They are portraying society to not give to the poor and homeless even more. I value the individuals who do come in for a free meal, and I want to provide all the knowledge I can to help the individuals out of their unwanted circumstances at the Salvation
Army. At the end of this experience, I hope to learn about how being homeless effects an individual’s life, how the Salvation Army takes care of this vulnerable population, and how to measure cholesterol levels. My first goal is to perform cholesterol screenings on three people and explain their results to them by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this by counting the number of screenings I perform personally, and making sure I am able to tell the client about their results. My second goal is to listen to someone sheltered at the Salvation Army about his or her experience or hardship they are going through to form trust, and then educate him/her on resources available by the public by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this at the end of the day at the Salvation Army and write about my experience with someone in my post paper. My third goal is to educate a group of clients at the Salvation Army about the ranges their cholesterol should be between by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this by writing down my experience I had with teaching cholesterol levels, and also have the individuals teach back to me what I taught him or her.
Our group that is presenting on cholesterol at the Salvation Army thought of three professional group goals that we wanted to accomplish. Our first goal is to provide cholesterol testing for 10 clients at the Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this by recording every client’s cholesterol level and how his or her test turned out. Our second goal is to provide education regarding lifestyle choices that can affect cholesterol levels to clients at Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this by the individuals being able to answer the questions on the tables, and also being able to repeat back to us what they have learned when asked by one of us. Our third goal is to assess and record ten blood pressures of clients at the Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this goal by recording the blood pressures on a piece of paper and by also talking with the clients about their blood pressure number that shows up. We hope to achieve these goals and have a successful learning experience for the individuals at the Salvation Army. I think people nation wide need to be more educated about the homeless and individuals in poverty. I have learned so much just by reading about the vulnerable population. I am happy to have this opportunity to attend the Salvation Army because I do not think I would get another chance to check cholesterol levels or blood pressures to individuals if I was not in nursing school. The homeless and poverty need lots of support and education, and as nursing students, we are there to help them.
not had any experience with the homeless or people in poverty out in society, such as the Salvation Army, but I have had lots of experience at the hospital in the emergency room with these clients where I work. Many times when a homeless person came to the emergency room, he/she usually came by ambulance because some bystander found he/she lying on the ground, either in Cameron Park downtown or on the sidewalk in the city somewhere. After further evaluation, most of the time he/she is very intoxicated with blood alcohol levels above 0.3 and has no difficulties due to the tolerance to alcohol. He/she will then usually state they had three fourths of a 1.5 bottle of liquor. He/she is usually very uncooperative, almost always incontinent of urine/feces, and also always filthy dirty from living outside. I had a circumstance once where a homeless male patient came in from the park and he had maggots infested all over his groin. As healthcare professionals, we take the time to clean theses individuals up, and then proceed to admit them for detox or find them resources to have a better quality of life. We still treat them like normal human beings, are not condescending, and do not make it obvious that they are homeless to individuals near by. These people need lots of support to improve their lives, and we are there for them by their sides. Even though I have had the experiences in the emergency with homeless and poverty patients, I still learned a lot of new information after reviewing the chapter and looking at the websites. There are two types of poverty, crisis and persistent. Crisis poverty is brief for individuals and they may stay in shelters for short periods of time due to domestic violence or eviction from their apartment (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Persistent poverty is when individuals are homeless chronically and live in shelters for long periods of time due to rehab or ongoing assistance (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Although there are defined different types of poverty, I think our society truly reflects upon the homeless and individuals in poverty as deserving or undeserving. Deserving poverty is people in poverty classified as deserving assistance if the reason they are in poverty is out of their control, such as widows, orphaned children, chronic illnesses not caused by personal failure (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Undeserving poor individuals are considered alcoholics, prostitutes, mentally ill persons, and those considered lazy are considered undeserving because society thinks they can control those factors (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). I think society uses these two labels when analyzing poor or homeless people. Poverty refers to people who have lack of food, shelter, clothing, transportation, or medical care (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Many people may be lacking all of these factors, or some people are in desirable need of food for their family. To have ones family be considered in the poverty level, a family of four lives on an income of $22,350 dollars or below (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). This might seem like a really low number with two parents potentially having jobs, but it is not because many people in poverty do not have jobs and live in harsh conditions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “In 2007, 37.3 million people had income below the federal poverty level; about 18% were younger than 18 years of age” (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012, p. 739). The number of children in poverty or homeless is on the rise amongst adults. The most likely person to be homeless is a single male (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). This could be shocking to some. When looking at a homeless person’s environment, he/she usually lives in boxcars, on building roofs, in doorways, or under freeways (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). Due to the rare unsheltered and dirty environments homeless individuals live in, they are at great risk for many health problems. Homeless individuals are at risk for hypothermia or hyperthermia, infestations, peripheral vascular disease, tuberculosis, AIDS, trauma, foot problems, malnutrition, alcohol problems, mental illnesses, and depression (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012). All of these problems above could lead to serious health problems and potentially death. At the Salvation Army, we are there to educate them on these health problems and how they can be prevented. When reflecting on my beliefs and values, I do believe that society needs to help out the homeless more than we do.
I believe there are a lot of bystanders on the street that do not take initiative to help someone in desperate need. I think it is sad that in the last few years there has been an increase amount of individuals who sit by the stop lights out by the mall and hold up signs asking for money. I feel society gets the deserve/underserve picture from them. I feel like many of them are not homeless because they sit out there asking for money when they are dressed nicely and groomed like someone who is not in need of money, but it may just be an assumption. They are portraying society to not give to the poor and homeless even more. I value the individuals who do come in for a free meal, and I want to provide all the knowledge I can to help the individuals out of their unwanted circumstances at the Salvation
Army. At the end of this experience, I hope to learn about how being homeless effects an individual’s life, how the Salvation Army takes care of this vulnerable population, and how to measure cholesterol levels. My first goal is to perform cholesterol screenings on three people and explain their results to them by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this by counting the number of screenings I perform personally, and making sure I am able to tell the client about their results. My second goal is to listen to someone sheltered at the Salvation Army about his or her experience or hardship they are going through to form trust, and then educate him/her on resources available by the public by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this at the end of the day at the Salvation Army and write about my experience with someone in my post paper. My third goal is to educate a group of clients at the Salvation Army about the ranges their cholesterol should be between by 1800 on 12/2/15. I will evaluate this by writing down my experience I had with teaching cholesterol levels, and also have the individuals teach back to me what I taught him or her.
Our group that is presenting on cholesterol at the Salvation Army thought of three professional group goals that we wanted to accomplish. Our first goal is to provide cholesterol testing for 10 clients at the Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this by recording every client’s cholesterol level and how his or her test turned out. Our second goal is to provide education regarding lifestyle choices that can affect cholesterol levels to clients at Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this by the individuals being able to answer the questions on the tables, and also being able to repeat back to us what they have learned when asked by one of us. Our third goal is to assess and record ten blood pressures of clients at the Salvation Army by 1800 on 12/2/15. We will evaluate this goal by recording the blood pressures on a piece of paper and by also talking with the clients about their blood pressure number that shows up. We hope to achieve these goals and have a successful learning experience for the individuals at the Salvation Army. I think people nation wide need to be more educated about the homeless and individuals in poverty. I have learned so much just by reading about the vulnerable population. I am happy to have this opportunity to attend the Salvation Army because I do not think I would get another chance to check cholesterol levels or blood pressures to individuals if I was not in nursing school. The homeless and poverty need lots of support and education, and as nursing students, we are there to help them.