Frequently Asked Questions
What are Health Advocates?
“Health Advocates” is another term for the volunteers in our program. We strive to bridge inequities in healthcare, whether by helping out with HPE’s and language assistance at the hospital, creating educational workshops with PAYS, or working with the Community Health workers of MALO.
How many Health Advocates are active in each of the three internship positions?
For Fall 2022, about 80% are hospital volunteers, 57% are in the Educational Outreach team, and 23% are in the Community Outreach team. Many of our volunteers work in more than one team, and you can find past distributions in our impact reports as well. Please note that current and past distributions may not reflect future recruitment patterns.
What is unique about our hospital volunteer position in comparison to other programs?
The experience of volunteering with Health Bridges at PVHMC focuses primarily on insurance enrollment, and the majority of your time would be focused on providing language assistance and translation resources. Unlike other hospital volunteer programs, you may be working more on social needs than medical or clinical tasks, and there will be more program-wide events and requirements. If you are searching for a more traditional, clinical volunteering experience, we definitely recommend looking into PVHMC’s volunteer program!
What qualifications and/or trainings do Health Advocates need?
No prior qualifications are necessary for our program. Participation in our program is contingent upon attendance to semesterly orientations. Hospital volunteers must additionally complete one-time online trainings for the PVHMC volunteer department and their HPE certification, and keep their immunizations up to date -- more information will be outlined during the orientations.
How is transportation to and from PVHMC coordinated?
Health Advocates attend their shifts through a variety of means, including through their personal vehicles and school-provided vehicles (requires an authorization form). For those who do not have transportation, we work to set up the hospital shift schedules so that you'll be partnered with someone who does have transportation. For Pomona students, we provide support for PCIP applications to cover internship costs, including transportation. We will reimburse rideshares (e.g. Lyft or Uber) depending on our annual budget.
What are the shift times for the hospital volunteers?
Shifts are from 10am-2pm, 2pm-6pm, and 6pm-10pm for all seven days of the week.
What impact has COVID had on Health Bridges and its activities?
While we were not able to conduct our activities in person during the height of the Covid pandemic, we have returned to in-person activities and resumed hospital tasks again. During our time away, we continued to conduct follow-up and insurance assistance through remote phone calls for PVHMC patients, created online resources in various languages, and fostered new partnerships with PAYS, MALO, and Tri City Mental Health.
Are first-year students eligible to apply for the Health Advocate Internship Program?
First years are eligible to apply for our Educational Outreach and Community Partnerships teams during both fall and spring recruitment cycles. However, only second-semester freshmen are eligible to apply for the hospital task.
Am I eligible to apply if I am not a 5C student?
Yes -- please reach out to us so we can discuss further!
What application tips might be useful for me?
The best way to prepare an application for the Health Advocate Internship Program is to thoroughly read through the program/position requirements, this FAQ section, and clarify any questions during our info sessions in order to determine whether this program would be a good fit for you and your career goals. If so, we’d love to have you in our organization!
“Health Advocates” is another term for the volunteers in our program. We strive to bridge inequities in healthcare, whether by helping out with HPE’s and language assistance at the hospital, creating educational workshops with PAYS, or working with the Community Health workers of MALO.
How many Health Advocates are active in each of the three internship positions?
For Fall 2022, about 80% are hospital volunteers, 57% are in the Educational Outreach team, and 23% are in the Community Outreach team. Many of our volunteers work in more than one team, and you can find past distributions in our impact reports as well. Please note that current and past distributions may not reflect future recruitment patterns.
What is unique about our hospital volunteer position in comparison to other programs?
The experience of volunteering with Health Bridges at PVHMC focuses primarily on insurance enrollment, and the majority of your time would be focused on providing language assistance and translation resources. Unlike other hospital volunteer programs, you may be working more on social needs than medical or clinical tasks, and there will be more program-wide events and requirements. If you are searching for a more traditional, clinical volunteering experience, we definitely recommend looking into PVHMC’s volunteer program!
What qualifications and/or trainings do Health Advocates need?
No prior qualifications are necessary for our program. Participation in our program is contingent upon attendance to semesterly orientations. Hospital volunteers must additionally complete one-time online trainings for the PVHMC volunteer department and their HPE certification, and keep their immunizations up to date -- more information will be outlined during the orientations.
How is transportation to and from PVHMC coordinated?
Health Advocates attend their shifts through a variety of means, including through their personal vehicles and school-provided vehicles (requires an authorization form). For those who do not have transportation, we work to set up the hospital shift schedules so that you'll be partnered with someone who does have transportation. For Pomona students, we provide support for PCIP applications to cover internship costs, including transportation. We will reimburse rideshares (e.g. Lyft or Uber) depending on our annual budget.
What are the shift times for the hospital volunteers?
Shifts are from 10am-2pm, 2pm-6pm, and 6pm-10pm for all seven days of the week.
What impact has COVID had on Health Bridges and its activities?
While we were not able to conduct our activities in person during the height of the Covid pandemic, we have returned to in-person activities and resumed hospital tasks again. During our time away, we continued to conduct follow-up and insurance assistance through remote phone calls for PVHMC patients, created online resources in various languages, and fostered new partnerships with PAYS, MALO, and Tri City Mental Health.
Are first-year students eligible to apply for the Health Advocate Internship Program?
First years are eligible to apply for our Educational Outreach and Community Partnerships teams during both fall and spring recruitment cycles. However, only second-semester freshmen are eligible to apply for the hospital task.
Am I eligible to apply if I am not a 5C student?
Yes -- please reach out to us so we can discuss further!
What application tips might be useful for me?
The best way to prepare an application for the Health Advocate Internship Program is to thoroughly read through the program/position requirements, this FAQ section, and clarify any questions during our info sessions in order to determine whether this program would be a good fit for you and your career goals. If so, we’d love to have you in our organization!
