The organization I choose as my service-learning opportunity is the Western Tidewater Free Clinic. Some of the experience opportunities available to me as a volunteer would be helping the dentist or dental hygienist with certain tasks and assisting them with the patients and any other needs they may have that I am qualified to do. Their mission is to provide quality healthcare to the Tidewater area for people who cannot afford the treatment they need. Some of the services they provide is dental care, medical care, vision care, women’s health program, and much more. They address the community’s need for free healthcare for the people who cannot afford it otherwise. The clinic is an important part of the community because it helps the members of the community have a healthier and happier life. A video of what the free clinic is all about is attached here: https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=video+about+western+tidewater+free+clinic#id=1&vid=7d6aef4570ea80c211ce8397fa11a20d&action=click
After reflecting over their mission and the video I watched I have a new and deeper understanding of why health care is so important to the community. If people cannot get the care they need then that in turn effects the businesses they may be employed by and, therefore, effects the whole community. The Western Tidewater Free Clinic is a vital part of the community and serves the people who truly need help very well.
Their services relate to my intended career field because you can volunteer as a dental hygienist there and once I become a certified dental hygienist I plan to volunteer there to help my community. This could also relate to a nursing major because there are many opportunities for nurses to volunteer there as well. I would not pursue nursing as my parallel major because I do not like the hours that are required of most of those job positions and I also do not like the fact that they have to know so much about the entire body whereas with dental hygiene it is more focused on the neck up and the basic functions of the body.