The last 2 days have been trying and challenging. Yesterday at the shelter, a man thought that he was having a heart attack so we had to set the 911 gears in motion. I struggled with what I should do in the interim, while waiting. Inside, I feared that I wouldn't be able to do the right thing if he started to go downhill and needed CPR, although I'm sure instinct would have kicked in.

I did an overnight to train in a new volunteer, so my night shift ended at 9am this morning...and we had at least 5 or so guys trying to invite themselves to the breakfast that the meal group had brought and prepared for shelter guests. I had to be the bad guy and tell them to move along. Turns out it's been an ongoing problem that is happening because the overnight shifts are run by volunteers who don't always know who slept over for the evening or who aren't comfortable enough to be assertive when someone is scamming their way in.

This afternoon, I worked at the residential facility for formally homeless chronic alcoholics - 20 minutes into my shift, a man ran to the desk to report a man seizing upstairs. I flew up the 2 flights of stairs and got to his side. The other men in the room had already moved him onto his side so I sat with him and kept him propped. After what seemed like 10 minutes but was probably less, he came to somewhat and seemed very startled to see me looking down at him, he isn't someone I've connected with too much yet (there are 80 men and I've only been there 3 weeks or so). He was detoxing so it may have been that he was having some sort of hallucination as well - he jumped at least twice when his eyes focused in on me. I felt pretty helpless sitting there waiting on the paramedics, scared that he may die before they got there - he wasn't getting much oxygen and his chest was tight. On top of that, the men told me that he had hit his head twice on the table corner on the way down.

I am preparing myself already for my first lost client, there is one in particular who isn't doing well so I would not be surprised if he is the first to go during my term there. The program pretty much acts as a hospice, it's the end of the road for some residents.

Trial by fire!