Blessing Nwafor

Why did you decide to take HLTH 481?

Being that I’m not in the co-op stream, I really wanted a capstone course that will enable me to get some hands-on experience and in the process also give back to the community. I read the course description and talked to my academic advisor about what the course entailed and I registered for the course when it was time.

What community partner are you volunteering with, and why did you decide to  volunteer with them?

For this course, I am volunteering at two organisations: HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre and A Better Tent City. One of the most important criteria I wanted from this experience is to get a different kind of experience than I already have. Most of my experience has been in front line care as a personal or disability support worker, but even in this experience, I haven’t had the opportunity to connect with the homeless population or with people affected by cancer in a large sense. So I took up the opportunity to work with HopeSpring Cancer Support and A Better Tent City (ABTC) to connect with these populations and also give back.

What kind of work are you doing within the organization?

At HopeSpring, I am currently a peer support volunteer. As a peer support volunteer my role is to help connect with caregivers impacted by cancer by having meaningful conversations with them, which enables them to share their experiences and journey with caring for a loved one affected by cancer. Additionally, my job is to refer them to programs and services offered by HopeSpring that may be of benefit to them wherever they are in their journey. Some of these programs include counselling and peer support groups.

I have also taken on another volunteer role with HopeSpring as a Grant Research Associate that will be commencing in April 2022. In this role I will be working with a team to help foster programs and services through research, grant application, analysing information etc.

At ABTC, I help with site clean up and moving in appliances needed for the new shared facilities building. While helping the residents, I also engage in meaningful conversations with them to help build trust and relationships.

What do you like most about this experience?

I like that I’m stepping out of my comfort zone and being exposed to a different population than I’m used to through my past work experiences. I love that I’m able to make new connections with people through this experience and I'm also enthusiastic about practising and expanding my research skills through the grant research associate position.

How do you think it will help you in the future?

My interest in public health is in the use of health information in improving quality of care, patient care decisions and health-care policies. This community placement experience enables me to see from the ground up the impact of illnesses on people at an individual and community level.

In the future, this experience will help inform and strengthen my knowledge, which I can apply towards related health issues and work to make a positive impact on them.