Volunteering a great form of treatment

By Kim Palchikoff

Sunday, Aug. 21, 2016 | 2 a.m.

I love volunteering. Over the years I’ve served Thanksgiving meals to the homeless, taught arts and crafts to children of California migrant farmworkers and visited patients in hospitals. These days I volunteer at Northern Nevada HOPES in Reno. It’s a large medical clinic dedicated to underserved populations, including those who are low-income, homeless, HIV-positive and without insurance.

Since 2014 it has sponsored a needle-exchange program called Change Point that helps prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C among intravenous drug users. It’s the only needle-exchange program in the state, although nearly 200 cities across America have similar programs. Change Point has had almost 5,000 individual clients, mostly heroin and methamphetamine users.

The people who bring in their used needles to trade for free clean ones, in order to avoid serious medical problems caused by sharing or reusing dirty ones, are young, old, homeless and coming from work.

The clients are very polite. Many call me “ma’am” as I provide them with injection supplies: packages of needles, saline solution, band aids, alcohol swabs, tourniquets. I also hand out condoms and other harm-reduction products. Sometimes I go out in the streets, handing out these supplies to drug users who need them. I never ask their names; it’s an anonymous world. Nonetheless, they’re always appreciative.

Many people who are not familiar with this world think providing sterile supplies only enables drug users. But the point of these exchange programs is to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites research showing that syringe services such as Change Point can reduce the spread of HIV infection by 56 percent. According to the CDC, more than 60 studies have been conducted on the issue. Knowing these facts makes me even more happy about donating my time.

I don’t just volunteer to pass the time. I had a loved one who died from AIDS, so volunteering at HOPES and helping to prevent the spread of this deadly disease makes me feel like I’m part of a solution.

Besides, volunteering has long been a proven mental health booster. Much has been written in the mental health world on how to treat depression or anxiety with medications, exercise and visits to therapists. While all of these have proved effective, volunteering face to face sends thousands of happy cells swirling in my brain. I meet interesting clients, other volunteers and employees who believe in the same causes as I do. Volunteering is a great opportunity for social interaction that comes with supporting a cause.

Over the years I’ve had some unforgettable volunteering moments. One time a woman came into Change Point, not in search of clean needles, but to sit down and get out of the heat. She looked sad. She told me she had given birth seven days prior, but social services put her newborn immediately in foster care, as the woman was living in a motel. She said, too, that her mother had died the month before. She started crying. I really wanted to help her. I found her a mental health crisis counselor who could see her right away and found her a place that donated clothes, per her request. We looked up the bus route together online. It was a small thing to do, but at least I found her some help. She felt better, and I felt useful.

Recently the medical journal BMJ Open published a study on mental health and volunteering, based on a survey of 5,000 households in England. The people who frequently volunteered experienced higher levels of mental well-being, the research concluded, because it helped them maintain social networks that are important as people age.

Harvard Women’s Health Watch newsletter published an article in 2013, “Volunteering May Be Good For Body and Mind,” saying it lowers blood pressure, increases volunteers’ lifespans and, because of the social interaction, reduces stress.

Volunteering has been a part of my treatment plan. I know what it’s like to be low-income and uninsured, desperate for medical care. I have no plans to quit volunteering anytime soon.

Kim Palchikoff is studying social work at UNR and writes about mental health. Her Facebook page is NVMindsMatter.