Volunteer
New! Read our profile of longtime Clinic volunteer Sheri Overton!
Your gift of time helps People's Community Clinic provide healthcare services to underserved workers and their families in Central Texas. Most patients are low-income working singles or families without healthcare insurance.
Volunteer opportunities vary based upon the needs of the clinic and the expertise of the volunteer. People's Community Clinic has an on-going need for volunteers in specific areas of the clinic. Listed below are brief descriptions of typical tasks for which we use volunteers on an ongoing basis. We also accept professional health providers with appropriate credentialing as volunteers; please contact Abby Williamson for more information about this type of volunteering.
We are currently seeking volunteers in the following areas:
Center for Adolescent Health/GOALS Programs Assistant
The Center for Adolescent Health is a program designed to treat adolescents who are patients at the People's Community Clinic and to reach out into the community to provide health care to other at-risk or poorly served teens.
The GOALS Program provides medical care and behavioral and developmental health assessments to youth ages 4-19.
People's Community Clinic is looking for a few dedicated volunteers to assist Dr. Celia Neavel and program staff in a variety of ways. The ideal volunteer is flexible and enjoys working with youth. Being bilingual in English and Spanish is helpful, but not necessary for most tasks.
1) Update handouts and resources for CAH and GOALS patients, which may include confirming computer links, xeroxing, putting packets together, researching appropriate materials in English and Spanish, and maintaining inventory of handouts. Tues afternoon.
2) Providing brief (about 1 hour) childcare for children ages 4-13 when providers need to talk with parents without the child present. This could provide an opportunity to learn observation and interviewing skills. Wed afternoon.
3) Parent Support Group: childcare for one evening session in June.
Group Volunteer Efforts
4) Collect small reward gifts/toys suitable for 4-13 year old patients coming for Goals visits. This would be well-suited to a group collection drive.
5) Collect small, new toiletries for teens (nail polish, hotel sample shampoos, conditioner, toothbrushes, etc.). This would be well-suited to a group collection drive.
Health Education Assistant
The Health Education Assistant will provide clerical support to a busy department. Example tasks include making copies and ensuring health education materials inventory throughout the Clinic. Hours of availability are between 8 am-4 pm Monday through Friday.
Benefits of this position include: exposure to the field of health education, opportunity to work closely with health educators in the clinic and to gain knowledge of specific health education topics such as family planning, prenatal education, adolescent health, etc. Computer skills are a plus as is Spanish language ability.
Waiting Room Storytime Reader
The Storytime initiative is based on the success of our pilot program with the Austin Public Library featuring storytime in the clinic waiting room. This position requires a desire to be the center of attention, comfort with young children (ages 1-8) and a willingness to be theatrical in 30 minute spurts. As many of our young patients are Spanish speaking, this is an excellent opportunity to practice Spanish language skills before an easy-to-please audience.
This position has wide availability: Mon-Thurs, 9a-noon, 1-7 pm and Friday, 9a-noon, 1-4 pm. There will be an evening training for summertime readers on Wednesday, May 20 from 6:30-9 pm.
General Guidelines
All volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and willing to commit to two hours per week for at least four months. Depending on their level of interaction with patients, volunteers will be required to show proof of up-to-date immunizations, including measles, mumps and rubella, Tdap, varicella (chicken pox) and tuberculosis. Volunteers are also required to attend a brief interview/orientation and submit to a criminal background check. For reasons of patient privacy and lack of space, we do not typically accept requests to shadow doctors.
Please know that we receive more requests to volunteer than we can fill. Volunteers who demonstrate commitment to the clinic's mission will receive priority consideration.Volunteer Today!
Please note the Clinic is closed Saturday and Sunday; we do not accept volunteers on the weekends.
Contact Abby Williamson, Resource Development Associate, at (512) 708-3156 or abbyw@austinpcc.org.
You may download the application as a PDF or a Word document, however please contact Abby Williamson to discuss volunteer openings before submitting as we may not have openings at the immediate time of your interest.
Download PDF Volunteer Application
Strength in Numbers: Clinic Volunteer Sheri Overton
Volunteer Sheri Overton knows firsthand that there is strength in
numbers. Sheri has contributed much to the Clinic by volunteering regularly
since 2006, but perhaps her greatest contribution is that she motivates so
many fellow
First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin's (FUUCA) members to become involved
with PCC alongside her. When FUUCA chose People's Community Clinic as a church-wide
social action project, Sheri signed on to promote and coordinate the project.
The partnership between FUUCA and the Clinic is a perfect fit for church members because of the church's emphasis on social change, service in action and inclusiveness. At last count, at least seventy five church members have volunteered time with People's since the partnership began in 2006. Many more have contributed financially through the church's "Split-the-Plate" donation program that supports area non-profit organizations. Church members have contributed thousands of crucial funds to PCC through this program.
FUUCA members like Sheri are involved in a wide variety of Clinic efforts. They prepare hundreds of prenatal and family planning education packets for patients each month. They have staffed the Back-to-School immunization clinic and volunteered for fundraising events. They have gathered baby supplies for new mothers, and have donated items to our Season for Caring efforts. FUUCA member involvement includes young people, too: youth involved with the Church's Campfire Club regularly collect used children's books for the Clinic's waiting room.
This diversity of opportunities is intentional: Sheri works closely with clinic staff to find volunteer activities requiring varying skills and types of involvement so people with diverse schedules and interests can contribute as they would like. Many opportunities are group activities - even the most repetitive task can be made fun and fulfilling through conversation and company with others.
In her organizing role, Sheri ensures church members know about upcoming volunteer needs through their monthly newsletter, Sunday service bulletins, and email messages. She also makes sure members feel welcomed and encouraged to join in.
Sheri is motivated to find ways everyone can serve. Sheri says, "People want to help-it feeds your soul-but they have to do it within the constraints of the many demands on their own lives. Part of my job is finding a wide variety of opportunities to help PCC so that our members can find their own way of helping that matches their talents and other demands on their lives." Sometimes that means Sheri looks for tasks that can be done sitting down in order to accommodate a church member with difficulty standing. Other times she ensures that a Spanish speaking volunteer is put in a direct-service position where their skill will be most put to use.
Sheri was drawn to the work of People's Community Clinic because of its service to those in our community for whom the healthcare system does not work. She and her adult son are both disabled with muscular dystrophy, and Sheri has spent many years advocating for the health and educational services her son needs. Something she's learned from that experience is that "our health care system just doesn't work for people with the most need or with fewer resources...when I learned that PCC provided services to those for whom the system was essentially broken, I thought it might be a good fit for me..."
Having retired as a professor of special education in Oklahoma, Sheri's flexible schedule allows her to do several things she loves: traveling to visit family and friends, and camping throughout the U.S. She moved to Wimberly from Oklahoma four years ago and enjoys birding and gardening at her country home.
PCC is thrilled to have energetic, committed volunteers like Sheri. Sheri's capacity-building approach to service has several special benefits to the clinic. Volunteers in groups can tackle some of the more daunting but critical tasks that Clinic staff are hard-pressed to find time to accomplish while enjoying one another's company. Dozens of people are now supporting People's Community Clinic where before there was one. Thank you, Sheri, for your service and for motivating and organizing others to become involved with People's Community Clinic.
