"The Volunteer" by Crystal Hickerson @CrystalShow1 #Books

"The Volunteer" follows Jenna Steele, a woman whose mother died on hospice. She was compelled to give back, so she donated to a local hospice, however that was not enough for her. Jenna decided to volunteer and this is where her emotional journey begins.

If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to volunteer for hospice, this novel will take behind the scenes and give you an inside peek into the real world of hospice volunteering.

Not only will you discover the highs and lows of a volunteer but also the often unseen world of the managers who supervise them.

You will not be able to put this book down!

Get your copy on Amazon here!

Crystal Hickerson was born in Queens, NY growing up in New York City as well as Tennessee in her teenage years. She has written and published four novels, "The Magician," "Street Corners," "Wanted," and her last novel "The Volunteer."

Crystal has worked in the hospice field for over 15 years. She started as a grief counselor before moving into volunteer management. Being witness to the wonderful awe inspiring work that volunteers do, inspired her to write her novel, "The Volunteer."

Crystal Hickerson holds a bachelor's degree in Sociology with a minor in criminal justice. She has over 10 years experience in speaking and training.

www.CrystalHickerson.com

Does Your Doctor Listen?

We've all been there. You go to the doctor and you walk up to that Fort Knox of a setup that the receptionists have. "What are they doing back there?" you wonder.

You knock on the glass only to be greeted by some pimply-faced college student who acts as if you disrupted a brain surgery in progress.  She pushes a clipboard towards you full of the same forms you've filled since you were old enough to visit a doctor on your own.

You sign in and you sit down in some chair only fit for those under 150 lbs. and you wait. The television is playing at a low volume with Closed Captioning scrolling to prevent you from reading the CNN news ticker (FOX News if you're in Mississippi).

You play Candy Crush until your lives run out. You surf Facebook until you get to yesterday's timeline. You flip through a People's magazine so old that Dudley Moore is on the cover. An hour and a half later, the nurse calls you back.  "Finally!" you say under your breath.

Now you're in the back and sitting in a cold room on top of a table that has about 24 square inches of real estate. It's more of a tray than a table. The rustling of the paper under your butt aggravates you to no end.  "At least I had a television to watch and magazines to read in the waiting room," you think to yourself.

15 minutes later the doctor strolls in as if you've only been waiting a few minutes.  He has two people come into the room with him.  He greets you and introduces the interns who are "shadowing" him for the day and then asks you what's wrong while he looks at some notes (probably for his next patient).  You respond with whatever your ailment is and he nods in agreement while he checks your ears and breaks out his trusty stethoscope.  "Breathe in....  Breathe out..." he says while staring into space.

He grabs his prescription pad and scribbles something for you that should get rid of your problem in a few days.  Just as quickly as he arrives he's gone.  The room gets so quiet so quickly that you start to wonder if he was ever really there in the first place.

You hop down from the table and accidentally pull apart half of the paper sheet that was underneath you.  You make your way to the cashier area to settle up on your bill.  The amount you pay depends on your insurance, but we'll just say that it's $30.  Almost two hours later you're back in your car wondering where you day went.

Has this happened to you?  I'm sure it has.  There's so much pressure on today's doctors to see patients that it lowers the level of care people receive from them.  The doctors generally get paid per patient, so if they don't see so many an hour then they don't do all that well in regards to salary.  Some doctors can see as many as 60 patients a day.  60!

I don't have a permanent doctor at the moment.  The last one I saw was actually at an MEA Clinic when I had lower back pains.  She was very nice and seemed more interested in me as a whole instead of just someone looking to push some drugs on me and get me out the door.  She has her own practice, so it's likely that I will give her a try soon.

Because when it comes to our bodies we should want someone who is truly interested in us.  Would you take your car to a mechanic who rushes through work?  Absolutely not!  Yet everyday thousands of us are putting our trust in doctors who may have good intentions, but don't have a lot of time.  Something needs to change in regards to how doctors are paid.  If someone needs 30 minutes of care and consultation then it shouldn't be the same pay as someone who may only need 10 minutes.

We're a long way from doctors who used to make house calls.  If you want to maximize your time with your doctor then be prepared before arrival.  Make use of that time in the waiting room and have your questions ready for when you finally get to see "Dr. Flash."

How can your doctor truly give you the care that you need if they're always in a rush?  

You So Nasty!

I absolutely cannot stand nasty people! I think it should be legal to slap someone (as long as it's above the eyebrows) because some people don't have home training and need a jolt of a life lesson every now and then.

Now, I know you're wondering, "what is his definition of 'nasty'?" A homeless person? A porn star? Snooki?

No, I'm talking these two people in particular: Don't Wash Hands After Using Bathroom Guy and Don't Cover Your Mouth When You Sneeze Guy.

Today, I'm just going to discuss the latter since it's winter time and everyone has the sniffles. I'm in the doctor's office a couple of weeks ago and I'm chilling in the waiting room. There's a man, two seats over from me, who was wearing short sleeves, no jacket, on a crisp, cold morning. He kept sniffing, which was distracting me from tweeting on my phone. I kept glancing up at the man wondering how someone that has a constant sniff is too dumb to put on something warm. Then it happened... All of a sudden, without covering his mouth, this dude let out the loudest, sloppiest, wettest sneeze!

I could see the particles floating in the room after this nasty buzzard sprayed his sinuses. Now, given that I'm older, I tend to speak my mind rather than hold my peace these days. Ten years ago, I would have not said a word, but not "Older Q." He'll say anything! So, before I knew it, I was barking at the man. "Dude!," I started, "What's wrong with you? Cover your mouth!"

There was an awkward moment of silence in the room as he glared at me, but there was one other person in the room. An older woman sitting off in the corner. She broke the silence, without looking up, with a mumbling statement, "You so nasty."

I returned the glare to the man now feeling empowered by the endorsement of the lady in the corner. The man got up and went in search of a restroom although he never once looked apologetic for spreading his germs.

People, please always remember to cover your mouth when you sneeze. It's absolutely nasty to see someone sneeze all over the place. Try to think of people other than yourself and realize that no one wants to inhale your particles, okay?




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Knee'd Relief?

Well, for those of you wondering where I've been, then just take a look at the Robocop brace I have on my left leg. I had knee surgery on 11/15 to repair my patella tendon that I tore completely from my knee cap on 10/6.

This brace is completely uncomfortable and has pretty much kept me confined to my couch. Since I'm limited to where I can put this monstrosity, I haven't been online much and I definitely can't sit still long enough to blog about anything while my leg is propped up over here. Eventually, it will start hurting and I'll have to lean back in my seat until the pain subsides.

Hopefully, I'll be brace-less within a few weeks and I can get back into the blogging mix. Until then, please forgive the lack of posts and know that I'll probably have plenty to say once I'm able to reclaim my left leg.

In the meantime, it's a great opportunity for you all to check out my blog roll (down on the left side) and catch up with some other great bloggers that I follow. Take care!


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