We know that many students applying for volunteer positions with us want to get more experience before medical school. Unfortunately, we very rarely offer shadowing opportunities. Our providers are offering their services to the community for free, and we don't want to take advantage of the goodwill of our clinicians nor the vulnerability of our patients. There are sometimes other opportunities to interface with patients, including training to do intake/vitals, doing patient outreach, or working the reception desk.

Our volunteers do a variety of tasks, and can change roles from shift to shift based on need. Some of the roles are:

• Reception
• Vitals/Nurse station
• Intake & Discharge
• Patient outreach
• Administrative assistance
• Clinic support (cleaning, organizing, anything the Clinic Manager needs help with)​

Those who are capable will be asked to assist with clinic upkeep and cleaning from time to time. Very rarely is anyone asked to lift heavy objects or do other strenuous activity. Those with physical limitations will never be placed in a position that does not accommodate their needs.

As long as you completed the form above and hit submit, we have your application on file! Volunteer opportunities with us are in high demand, particularly during active college semesters. If we haven't reached out to you regarding your application, it is most likely because we simply don't have the need or capacity to take on more volunteers at the time. Always feel free to reach out to the volunteer manager at volunteer@ithacahealth.org to check your application status.

The majority of our providers don't require a scribe. Our exam rooms are small, and the pace of our clinics don't necessitate having someone assist the provider for every appointment.

If you're looking for an opportunity to use those skills, there is likely a better position out there for your goals.

If you want to see if there are more opportunities to contribute or you have ideas of your own, please contact the volunteer and outreach manager at volunteer@ithacahealth.org. We are happy to find new and creative ways that folks can help the clinic.

Do you have grant writing skills? Are you connected to other local organizations? Have an idea for a program you want to help implement? We want to hear your ideas!

For clinical volunteers (those with a medical licensure), it depends on the service being offered. In general, we would like providers to be available for at least one clinic per month.

For all other volunteers, we typically only bring on those that have consistent availability on at least one day a week or every other week.