where I volunteered

I volunteered through the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. I had volunteered in their Patient Visitor program the previous year, but I wanted to try something new so I could gain a different perspective. I worked at two clinics, the Transplant Clinic and the Specialty Infusion Procedure Center. Both are located on the second floor of the Phillips-Wangensteen Building. One entry is across from the Outside Inn Café and the other is across from the Biomedical Library entry. I was really surprised to learn that there were clinics so close by to where there is lots of student traffic.

The Transplant Clinic at the U of M is one of the oldest and most successful transplant programs in the world with over 10,000 transplants performed. They have more than 45 years of experience in transplant research, innovation and care. They perform adult transplants for heart, intestine, islet, kidney, liver, lung, heart/lung and pancreas. The Specialty Infusion and Procedure Center serves patients who need infusions or transfusions. They also work closely with the solid organ transplant team to provide care to patients following transplants; hence why they are close by. Sometimes a doctor at the Transplant clinic may be requested to go over to the Infusion Center for a liver biopsy. Physicians in the Transplant Clinic see patients during checkups, like at a normal doctor. At the Infusion Center, physicians generally don’t see patients each time they come in since patients can come frequently as once or even twice a week. They are more likely to perform minor procedures.