SHAZIM UPPAL

Shaz was here on time every day. His normal time to leave at the end of his volunteer day was 1 pm we ate lunch together 12-12:30 pm. At 12:30 he came down to the clinic and tidied up the mad tables, took out trash without being asked. Shaz, without a doubt, in the two years I’ve been volunteering has been the MOST dependable volunteer from any school we had in the clinic.

The first day in the clinic, I was orientating Shaz. He noticed several empty cardboard boxes, which one of the staff had removed the contents to put on shelves. Without being asked Shaz took out a pocketknife and cut the tape on the boxes to flatten them for the dumpster. When asked, he said the family had owned a small store some time ago and he learned he was to cut the tape and put the flattened boxes in the dumpster. After Shaz’s orientation, he didn’t need my supervision much except for special projects. Daily he did the chores without being asked and helped the staff with patients, he could assemble Dolomite Swedish walkers, wheeled walkers and he knew which tasks were required to maintain good patient care with patients. He followed staff with wheelchairs in case a patient would get to tired to walk. Shaz is one of the few outstanding volunteers who once he knew what his responsibility was, required little or no supervision to accomplish the task. He enjoyed the interaction with patients many, many years older than him and the patients demonstrated their approval of Shaz’s fulfillment of his endeavors to make the patient’s stay better.

Shaz’s personality was such that when he asked them during their therapy if they needed water, snacks or coffee and tea, patients enjoyed Shaz not being told what he was to do. Shaz has an excellent rapport with staff beyond his years of age. He explained his father required him to work in his convenience store so he had to have pleasantness to customers. Shaz’s personality and pleasantness makes him an exceptional young man in his career goals. He never complained about work and his interaction was always appropriate for patients and staff, but most important he listened to what they said.

Shaz’s overall personality and the hard work he must do as a self-starter in his parent’s business probably has something to do with his overall self-reliance and self-starting. Shazim’s personality and his doing requests of the many patients in our clinic was extremely helpful to patients. Many patients seem to be looking for someone to talk to in the busy bustle of this hospital. Shazim’s ability to interact and listen to stories patients described was appreciated by the patients. Shaz’s also assisted in the Veterans Cooking Class where we helped patients who have lost coordination and need supervision. Shazim would work with one patient without being asked. This then gives the patient a sense of fulfillment, through gentle encouragement by Shazim actually accomplished a chore.