Exceptional volunteer
Sometimes it pays to make exceptions to a rule, and Kate Johnson is a perfect example.
The Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy seventh-grader began volunteering at Kootenai Medical Center last spring. It was several months before her 13th birthday, which is the age when most teens are allowed to join the Teen Volunteer Program. In return, Kate became an exception to the rule herself in the hours of service she donated. She reached 209 volunteer hours at KMC by December, while most volunteers log about 80 hours in that amount of time.
For her dedication, work quality and leadership, Kate was nominated for the Ladies Auxiliary Veterans of Foreign Wars Outstanding Young Volunteer of the Year Award. In February she was honored at an award banquet sponsored by the local VFW for winning the local competition. She was notified in March that she won the state award as well and received an additional cash prize.
“I wasn’t really expecting to do that well,” she said.
Sarah Nielsen, KMC’s volunteer and community services coordinator, heads the Teen Volunteer Program and nominated Kate for the award. Besides putting in an extraordinary amount of hours, Nielsen noted that Kate’s caring attitude and leadership abilities make her a role model for others. After volunteering throughout last summer, Kate was the only teen on her shift returning to work in the fall, so she was assigned the task of coordinating the shift crew and training new teens.
“Volunteering in a hospital is a huge responsibility,” Nielsen said. “You have to be very mature, and you have to know where the boundaries are. I have no problem trusting Katie.”
At age 14, teen volunteers may be appointed to a board that helps with interviewing new recruits, but since Kate already was so involved with training, another privilege was granted, and she was invited to participate on the board.
“She’s very mature and makes an excellent volunteer, so we made an exception,” Nielsen said.
The VFW award seeks to recognize youth that are volunteering in the community, and Kate immediately came to mind when Nielsen heard about the contest. Kate has logged about 280 hours of service to date in the pediatrics department and the hospital’s escort and errand office.
“She’s a wonderful volunteer and goes out of her way to work independently,” Nielsen said. “I think she could run the hospital some day if she wants to.”
Besides submitting letters of recommendation, the entrants must write an essay about their experiences. For Kate, her reasons for volunteering aren’t complicated.
“I love to see the people smile,” she said. “I love to make them feel good about themselves. When a child is sad, I can make them happy, and it makes me feel good. It helps me know what I want to do when I get older.”
Kate plans to use what she learns by working as a pediatric nurse one day. Her duties as a volunteer have included changing diapers, singing lullabies, answering phones, organizing storerooms and playing games with sick children. She delivers equipment to nurses, transports patients for X-rays or helps wheel them out to their cars upon discharge.
She also volunteered to entertain kids involved with the Lake City Playhouse children’s workshops last summer. She’s a graduate of KMC’s Safe Sitter class and has personal experience supervising two younger siblings at home for her mother, Lisa Johnson, KMC’s community relations director.
Kate is also an excellent student who received magna cum laude ranking on a national Latin exam and spends extra hours each week building fuel-cell cars for a science competition. She loves science and won several awards for science projects in elementary school.
Kate plans to volunteer at KMC throughout her high school years and hopes that her experience cheering others will make her a better nurse one day. She finds her motivation in faces of the patients that she meets.
“Giving people happiness is a good feeling,” she said. “I just like seeing people happier.”