SERVICE LEARNING

The Doorways: Between healing & home

By:
Brittany, Chichi, Joelle, Kirsten, Sam, & Tomicka.
Assessment of Community
Overview of the Community: The Doorways
● Founded by MCV Hospital Auxiliary in the year 1984
● Located at 612 East Marshall Street, Richmond, VA
● It was originally called Hospital Hospitality House of Richmond
● 175,000+ patients, family members, and caregivers have stayed at The Doorways over the past
30 years
● 85+ percent of patients receive care at VCU Health
● 10 percent of patients receive care at Hunter Holmes McGuire Veterans Administration medical
center.
● 10 percent from other partner hospitals.
About:
The Doorways is a 112 beds facility that provides a healing, emotionally supportive environment for
those who need to be close to the hospital but no far from the feeling of “home.” They are
Richmond’s premier provider of temporary lodging and non-medical services to patients and their
families referred through participating Richmond-area hospital partners, including:

● VCU Health
● Veterans Affairs Medical Center
● Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU
● Virginia Treatment Center for Children
● Sheltering Arms Hospital
● HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Virginia
● Retreat Hospital
● Hospice of Virginia
● Veritas Collaborative
Economic / Environmental data:
● $6,200 cost to operate The Doorways for one day. In 1989, it cost $250 a day.
● 10,000+ guests stay at The Doorways every year
● 144 average number of guests stay at The Doorways each night
● 6 is the average number of days a guest stays at The Doorways.
● Some guests stay just a day or two, while transplant patients may reside at The Doorways for
six to eight months.
● 53 percent of these guests cannot make a contribution towards the suggested donation of $15
per night.
● The doorways depend heavily on donations and volunteers. Volunteer today!!! :)

https://www.thedoorways.org/
Health Resource data
● VCC program- insurance to help with medical cost and prescription
discount
● Care card- BSHSI

Observed:

Limited Transportation

Meal preparation
What health issue impact this population?
Mortality Morbidity

● Advance cancer ● Lung Disease

● Transplant ● Cancer
● Complications of Chronic Diseases ● Kidney issues
● Sickle cell anemia
Community Partnership
● Community liaisons: Unknown
○ Partnerships with Ronald McDonald House, VCU Medical Center, VA food Bank, Capital
One, etc.

● Community needs:
○ Healthy meals- non-perishable items
○ Transportation
○ Financial needs
■ Assist with medical bills and prescriptions
■ Daily fees for housing
Planning & Implementing Service Learning Activity
Service Learning Activity:
● Target population =
○ The target population the day of this activity was 60. It comprised of patients and family
members (young and old).
● Day/Hour Served =
○ We did this service learning activity on Wednesday the 27th of February, 2018.
○ From 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
What we did:
● We prepared and served dinner to more than 50 people.
● We cooked spaghetti and meatball sauce.
● We also served, salad, rolls and dessert.
 What we did Cont’d
Rolls Spaghetti, ice tea and water
Method Planned for Evaluation:
● Communication and reflection:
○ After the activity, we reflected and talked about how the day went and what we thought
we did right or wrong.
● Interview:
○ Some of the clients at the doorways
○ The staff.
Resources Used:
● Data:
○ Collected over the phone from the volunteer coordinator on the average number of
people we will be serving.
● Communicated with the staff on activity options
● Cost for the activity was shared amongst us.
● We Provided:
○ The spaghetti and meat
○ Salad, rolls, ice tea, dessert, plates, and cutleries.
Strengths & Weaknesses
● Gives families opportunities to be close
to their loved ones receiving treatment
● Strong support system can aid in
healing and help to combat depression
● Gives patients a place to stay free of
charge if they are not inpatient, but are
receiving treatment of the course of
days-months.
● Alleviates the burden of allocating
finances during an already stressful
time
● Often far away from patient’s homes
● Can be difficult to coordinate
transportation, care of loved ones or
pets, etc.
● Close quarters, shared kitchen,
restrooms, common areas
● Transplant patients and their families
often stay at the facilities and it is
imperative that they do not contract any
sort of disease while they are receiving
treatment
Community Involvement: Planning & Implementing
We utilized the strengths of doorways to provide the meal for the families.

● Shared kitchen spaced: used to prepare the meal as well as interact with families cooking their
own meals
● Dining hall: Used to serve the families dinner and dessert, interact and talk with them
● Goal of Doorways is to provide relief of financial burden while away from home
○ We helped with this by taking away the burden and worry of having to prepare their own
meal

We worked with the staff to get ideas for favorite meals and activities

● Bingo and spaghetti were suggested by the staff

● We cooked spaghetti and had cake and donuts for dessert
Evaluation of Service Learning Activity
Formative Evaluation (during the activity)
Target Population: Challenges:
● We tracked the amount of people
during serving time by counting each
person served
○ Target population was 60 people, both
patients and family members
● Amount of people served: over 50
● We served as many people that wanted
to join, however many patients and
families fixed their own foods/meals
● Expected
○ Preparation
○ Not liking food
○ Food allergies
○ No social interaction
○ Fear of running low on food
● Reality
○ Team work for food prep made it very
simply
○ Spaghetti was a success with guests and
some leftovers for staff members
○ Many people spoke with us and shared
their stories and journeys with us
Summative Evaluation (after the activity)
Community Members:
● Our group served children and adults of
various ages. Some people were staying
at The Doorways alone while others
were with their families.
● Community members were from a wide
variety of ethnic groups
● People suffered from miscellaneous
cancers and diseases
Objectives:
● Our objectives of the service learning
activity were met.
● The goal of the activity was to take
burden off patients/families residing at
the doorways.
● The community (and staff) stated they
appreciated the service we provided.
Summative Evaluation cont…..
Actual Experience:
● Many individuals asked for second
helpings of food and told us the
spaghetti tasted very good
● More than one person thanked us for
providing a meal. They explained how
much they appreciated us coming.
● We knew the community was satisfied
with the meal/service we provided
because we received nothing but
positivity from the staff and patients
residing at The Doorways.
Conclusion:
● Serving the food hot and in a timely
manner was
● Towards the end, we ran low on plates.
In hindsight, we should’ve been more
conscientious or simply bought more
plates.
● The service learning experience was
extremely rewarding. The group learned
how much of an impact providing one
meal can make for those who are sick.