Recently, I came across a video titled, "The Power of One - Volunteer Edition," and it got me to thinking. It made me think more deeply about the hundreds of hours I spend at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center (CCHMC) each year. It made me think about how I am spending my time to help others. Time, which is the most valuable thing of all. CCHMC is one of my favorite places. Many people often ask me why I choose to spend my time there. Some assume I do it because it looks good on a resumé or a graduate school application, but these are just additional perks to my job. I don't get paid. I get punched in the face by little kids (by accident, of course). I get sneezed on, and I might catch every cold that goes around, but it does not matter to me. I may be one person, doing one job, but I have the power to change the lives of real patients each moment I spend with them. That is why I do it. I do it because I have seen some of the most wondrous things happen there. I've seen kids beat the odds and go on to do amazing things like learn to walk, talk or play baseball. I've also seen kids fight hard and have a very slow progression, and I have, unfortunately, seen the sorrow that comes about when a family loses a child. This video is amazing, and for those of you who are at all apprehensive about volunteering at a hospital, I would definitely check out this video. Here are just a few points I think the video made especially well.

Hospitals need volunteers. They need you. As a volunteer, you are an advocate, a friend and a supporter of each and every patient you interact with. Some days it may seem like you are not making a whole lot of difference. But if you just take a second, imagine how many volunteers are completing similar tasks as you are, at the same time, at various hospitals around the world.

"A simple smile could be the first aid kit that someone has been looking for."

If those reasons are not enough for you, here are a few more ways volunteers are helping to change the face of healthcare forever. When volunteers work hospital gift shops, they are able to use the money they would normally use to pay a worker to go toward research. And do you know what research does? 1) Research cures diseases, 2) research makes a little girl with leukemia go into remission and see her third birthday, 3) research leads to a better quality of life. These gift shops also help to fund the purchasing of new equipment, which leads to better research, which leads to points one, two and three.

I am just one person. I do as much as I can with the time I have been given, but I always want to do more. So, this is how I have decided to do more this week. I am challenging you to think about how you are spending your time. Do you have a couple hours a week where you could spend helping others, instead of watching Netflix? (Don't get me wrong, I love Netflix, but think of the smiles you could create!) If so, find something or somewhere you are passionate about and go volunteer. Make someone smile. Be a friend.