Hello Everyone! Welcome back to Michigan’s AmeriCorps Blog. I’m LaShauna Horton, a second-year member representing Michigan’s Community Health Corps.Community Health Corps is also an approach to reducing the health care workforce shortage. Health Corps members perform a wide range of activities including: patient enrollment in low-cost or free health insurance programs, patient utilization of health care resources, case management, counseling, health education, and community outreach/volunteering.
The program I serve with is the Smoking Cessation and Prevention program. The program’s goal is to expand the reach of tobacco control through community health centers. I educate the community about tobacco and its harmful effects through presentations, quit groups, bulletin boards, and games. I tell the truth about tobacco products, show participants the ways in which tobacco products are being advertised, and let them make there own decision about if they are going to use tobacco or not.
My team and I spend most of our time in health centers but every so often we have the chance to get out and assist in community service projects. Some of these include helping the fire department put smoke detectors in houses, planting community gardens, cheering people on at the Breast Cancer walk, and many more. On Friday, March 27, my team helped out at the 2009 Special Olympics Michigan State Basketball Finals. We had the chance to watch athletes of all different ages play basketball. There were members helping out at the souvenir table, setting up for arts and crafts, cleaning, keeping score, and cheering teams on.
I think I took more away from this event then I gave. I helped with the 8-12 year old athletes; making sure their hard work on the court didn’t go unnoticed. I cheered if they made a basket, but I also encouraged them to try again if they didn’t. I had a lot of fun.
The first game I watched was Team Blue versus Team Red. At one point Team Blue was up by 23 points, and by the end of the game they had won by 15. Even though Team Red lost, they never got frustrated and they never gave up. If one player fell, both teams were helping them up. Both teams showed great team work and excellent sportsmanship. Special Olympics' motto is, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
This was a competition, as trophies and awards were handed out at the end of the games, but as the littlest player on Team Red said, “Everything wasn’t always about winning.” One athlete told me he played in the tournament because he loved playing basketball and he didn’t care if he won or lost as long as he played. Another player told me she loved to play because she always made new friends and she liked having a lot of friends.
“Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human.”
- Anthony Robbins
I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot. Not everything always has to be so serious - have fun sometimes. One mistake is not the end of the world. Life is not about getting your way all the time. Learn what you did wrong and find a way to fix it. It’s not always the big things that make a difference but something as small as a smile can change a situation. If it only takes a smile, why don’t we as people smile more often?
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