by Carol L. Weinfeld, July 2009

A Volunteer Today, a Nurse Tomorrow

There once was a 15-year-old named Theo Gabisan. When he was 10 years old, his father, Will Gabisan, a CPMC employee in transport services, gave Theo a tour of CPMC on Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. There he visited different departments and learned how the hospital works. This visit sparked an interest in nursing as a profession. He found it rewarding, a career where one could help people.

Visiting patients, helping nurses

Last summer he volunteered at CPMC in the Ophthalmology Department, at the Institute for Health & Healing, and the Oncology Nursing Units. In the first two departments, he did clerical work; in the third he visited patients, answered telephones and completed errands for the nurses. He fulfilled the 100 hours of community service needed for graduation at Palo Alto High School.

Assisting learning disabled children

This summer, he’s volunteering again at CPMC (one of 150 high school student summer volunteers). Currently he assists children with learning disabilities at the Kalmanovitz Child Development Center. Theo keeps them on task and motivates them. He also does administrative work at CPMC’s real estate office, and collects patients’ menu choices and assists nurses in the Oncology Department on the Pacific campus. He enjoys menu collection, where he is active and helps patients.

Other interests

Theo is also active in sports; he plays basketball and enjoys fishing. He follows professional football and basketball, and reads action adventure books. He enjoys science, particularly biology, and math in school. Theo’s musical interests include hip hop, old R&B and rap. He speaks Tagalog and Visaya, a dialect spoken in the Philippines. His energy attracts him to the fast paced atmosphere of the Intensive Care unit, where his friendly personality will one day be a great asset to patients and staff alike.


Thank you to Carol L. Weinfeld for volunteering to write this article. Carol is a writer living in San Francisco. Contact her at clweinfeld@onebox.com

Thank you to Christine Krieg for volunteering to take the photo in this article. Christine is a San Francisco photographer specializing in photojournalistic wedding photography, special events, world-wide travel photography, portraits and more. View her photos at www.cksworld.com


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