Volunteer Guide

PLEASE READ THIS INFORMATION BEFORE BEGINNING YOUR VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES

Rain or Shine!                 Downloadable Version Here

An important message especially for those participating in the health fair, science zone and game activities: 

We are here to promote health and provide patient education in the best way possible and to do so in a manner that will not put either you or the participant in any uncomfortable situation whatsoever.

If you discover a situation that warrants follow up, simply tell the person that the situation is concerning and that he/she should see a doctor about that issue.  Faculty physicians will be available all day in the Sports Physicals Station (Nurses’ Office).  See the program for the location.

Stay within the bounds of your knowledge and training.  Do not guess or speculate.  You are never wrong to say that you do not know an answer and offer to help find an answer for the person.

Check-in and Assignments

You have either chosen or been given an assignment and will receive any special instructions related to that job.  You may be asked to do other things as needs arise.  Please exhibit the same supportive spirit in those tasks that led you to volunteer in the beginning. Parking is very limited at T.J. Rusk, so please park on the UT Southwestern campus – a bus will take you to T.J. Rusk.

Check in will be on-campus at UT Southwestern (5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235).

  • Arrive at the Student Center to check in and receive your t-shirt and assignment. Park in the designated areas as marked on the map below:

map

      • Morning Shift (8:30am until 12pm) –We will begin by having a light breakfast snack at 7:00am at the UT Southwestern Bryan Williams, M.D. Student Center (where you check in) and the first bus will leave for T.J. Rusk at 7:30am.  Plan to arrive at UTSW at least 30 minutes prior to when you must be in place at your booths. Everyone should be in place no later than 8:30am, with the exception of those signed up for shifts starting later in the morning, who should be in place 15 minutes prior to the start time they signed up for.  You should check in at the UTSW Student Center no later than 8:15am.

    • Afternoon Shift (12pm-3pm) – follow the same instructions to arrive at the Student Center to check-in at 11:00am.
    • Buses will continue to run continuously throughout the day from the campus to the event site.

Event Program

Familiarize yourself with the program to know what activities are occurring and when/where they are located.

All participants should have first already checked-in at the Welcome Area and received a wristband (red with white stars) before they can go to any booths. If a participant comes to your area without a wristband, please have them go to the Welcome Area.

T-shirt Colors Guide:

      • Volunteers will be wearing white shirts. They are responsible for manning the booths and overseeing specific activities.
      • Spanish translators will be wearing a red shirt so that they will stand out. Direct any Spanish attendees to these volunteers if necessary.
      • Committee members will be wearing a blue shirt. They have worked on specific booths and activities so will know those details.
      • Committee Chairs will be wearing a sapphire blue shirt. They will be able to answer any questions.
      • If a participant still has questions after talking with a Committee Chair, please direct them to the Welcome Area.

Ticket Colors and Meaning:

    • Each attendee will receive a packet of tickets at the Welcome Area to use throughout the day.
    • Special drawing tickets: Attendees will fill these out and place them in the drawing box at the Welcome Area. They can obtain more of these special drawing tickets by completing the Bingo Card, participating in certain booths, etc. As a booth volunteer, you will be asked to pass out more special drawing tickets at your booth to participants. Remember: the more they get, the more opportunities they have to win. These special drawing tickets will be drawn throughout the day and prizes will be handed out at the Welcome Area. These are further subdivided into child and adult special drawing tickets:
      • Green tickets: adult
      • Yellow tickets: children
    • Carnival and games tickets: The blue tickets are earned by going to different booths as well. You will be given a packet of these tickets to hand out to participants as well.
      • Blue tickets: used to play games at the Carnival.
      • Red tickets: given when games are won in the Carnival and can be traded in for small prizes at the prize table, located in the Cafeteria.

Bingo Card:

The Bingo Card is an incentive for the attendees to visit as many booths as possible. By completing different patterns on the card, they will earn special drawing tickets. Each attendee will receive the bingo card at the Welcome Area. Booth volunteers will be responsible for stamping the bingo card as the attendee participates in booth activities.

Not every booth will be included on the bingo card. If your booth is on the bingo card, there will be a sign at your booth indicating to participants that they can get a bingo stamp at your booth.

Women’s Health booths has a card that is separate than the Bingo card for their area only.

The CHART (Comprehensive Health Activity Record Tracker):

PLEASE READ: This section is very important, particularly for the Screening Booths. The CHART will be given at the Welcome Area (each will be given a UTSW number that they will be associated with). Dot stickers on the CHART will help differentiate between individuals participating in the Health Awareness Program (HAP, will have a sticker) and those who are not (no sticker). The Health Awareness program is an IRB study that identifies patients at risk for cardiovascular disease and matches them with local primary care clinics.

As attendees go through screening rooms, volunteers at those booths will fill out the CHART. As they are about to exit, volunteers will verify that the CHARTs for those participating in HAP (WILL HAVE a dot sticker) have been completely filled out and will tear off and retain the bottom slip for our data collection.

Break Room, Refreshments and Lunch

Room 106 has been reserved for volunteers.  You will find water, soft drinks, and snacks.  There will be pizza for lunch. Your committee chairs will give each of you instructions on when to go to lunch (we are trying to be organized and stagger lunch breaks for booths in order to maintain adequate booth volunteers at all times during the fair, so please pay attention to the lunch schedule provided to you by your committee chairs on the day of the event).
If you are on the second shift only – you will be able to get pizza when you arrive at TJ Rusk, before your shift begins.

DO NOT TAKE FOOD OR BEVERAGES OUT OF THE BREAK ROOM AREA. 
We are not able to feed the community and it would be discourteous to eat and drink items we are not able to provide for all Fair attendees. It also helps with cleanup.

Emergencies

There is an AED-equipped First Aid Station at the Welcome Area and a First Aid kit in the Gym at the First Aid Booth.   Lost children should be taken to the Welcome Area where they will be cared for and the parents will be paged over the PA system.  Other problems or security issues should be called to the attention of a committee chair who will contact administrative staff.

Please also remember that there will be a physician available at the Nurse’s Office during fair times.

Cleanup

We should leave the school cleaner than we found it!  At 2:30pm, when you have confirmation from the committee chairs, please begin packing your booth materials, cleaning your area, and help take down signs, remove trash, dismantle tables, etc.  Working together, this can be done quickly.  Please pack up all your remaining materials so that we may re-use them next year.  Each area will have specific instructions provided on where to place the materials. Bring them to the Cafeteria.

There will be an “end of the day” checkout station that will be located in the Cafeteria.

Follow-up

The gift of your time today is sincerely appreciated.  We can show that appreciation to you in the future by making improvements wherever possible.  Your suggestions about any aspect of the United to Serve program are welcomed.  Send them to suzette [dot] smith [at] utsouthwestern [dot] edu.

Thank you very much!
Muchas gracias!

Evan Barrios and Pouriska Kivanany
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Volunteer Chairs, United to Serve 2015
volunteer [dot] uts [at] gmail [dot] com
Suzette Smith
UT Southwestern Medical Center
Director, Bryan Williams, M.D. Student Center
214-648-3578