Do they care?

[wish_me_luck, BSN, RN]

Hey,

In a week or two, I should be hearing something about being able to look for work with my licenses (my three months passed, but it's the holiday and everything, so they still need to hold their meeting to decide and possibly send me my checklist and such, if it's approved). I know I want to volunteer to get some experience in community and public health. My concern is that if it is approved by HPMP and everything, would the volunteer organization want me? I mean it will be around 8-9 months since I graduated (almost 4-5 months that I have had a nursing license). Do volunteer organizations have certain stipulations for volunteering (i.e. you had to have used the license or you have to have x amount of years experience)? Are they usually okay with people using them to gain some experience? It gives me the exact experience that I need for my selected field of nursing, plus I love volunteering. I have a lot of previous volunteer experience--not exactly nursing or pharmacy tech, but volunteer experience.

When I can look for opportunities using my license, I do know I want to participate in Medical Reserve Corps (I know they are okay with me doing it because I talked to the person over the local chapter.) January is going to be very busy for me because I am getting crisis hotline trained (whether or not I get the part time job) among other things going on for me, so I do want to try and pace myself and not jump the gun and over extend myself. In February, once things calm down a bit and I get settled, then I do want to pick up more work. I have become a person that loves to work and volunteer constantly...it keeps me out of trouble.

But, it does scare me what free clinics and volunteer organizations will think. Anyone in recovery have any experience with volunteering/working with free clinics and such? How do they react to you? It purely would be non-paid work, but depending on the organization, the experience could be magnificent. So, I value it like a paying job.