Week 1, AmeriCorps Training

My first week as an official AmeriCorps "volunteer" began last Monday, September 8th. The 16 of us met at headquarters (henceforth known as HQ, located in Center City) at 9AM sharp and embarked on a week-long journey of icebreakers, paperwork, powerpoint presentations and various team-building exercises. Basically, we are all part of the Philadelphia HealthCorps which is part of the National HealthCorps (along with sites in Pittsburgh, Chicago and North Florida). We will each serve our positions at different sites, though 6 have the same job helping with prescription assistance at various health centers. The rest of us are performing our service in other capacities at different non-profit health centers. If you're really interested in the details of this, I could explain it. I got to hear a lengthy lecture on the Philadelphia public health system and am learning more about it firsthand every day. The complexity and funding issues make you root for universal health care if you weren't already.

There was much talk of 'The Corporation', but it turns out this refers to The Corporation for National and Community Service, created by Clinton during his first term. The divisions of AmeriCorps and its other complexities make it very hard to explain, so we often describe it in comparison to the more familiar Peace Corps or Teach for America programs. We received an extensive handbook of policies and regulations, and many additional handouts on such topics as food stamps, service hours timeline, and pay periods (our favorite). We got a briefing on HIPAA, probably the 10th in my lifetime. We also got our tentative schedule for the year, so I now know which of my Saturdays are dedicated to service projects (11/22 is the first) and which Mondays we will learn self defense training (9/29).

I'm now in the midst of my first real week at my site. I will certainly describe it better later, all without violating any HIPAA rules. The time as well as the busyness of the days are taking their toll on me; I plan on going to bed around 11 tonight.

In my next post: an account of my first Phillies game, photos galore and pointers on not looking lost while wandering unfamiliar neighborhoods.