Community Hospices of America volunteers Michelle and Joe Campbell have a very simple philosophy on how to find time to serve others while living busy lives. "You find time for what's important," they say. And time could not be harder to find than for these two busy college students and newlyweds.

Meet Joe and Michelle.

Joe, 26, is a third-year medical student, and 24-year-old Michelle is working on her doctorate in nutrition sciences. Despite their heavy workloads, they keep close with family members spread far and wide, have many interests and friends, travel frequently, and also find plenty of time to help others.

They met as freshmen at Florida State University, she from Orlando and he an Army brat from all over the world. They were both hospice volunteers in college. After graduating from FSU, she went on to work on her master's degree in nutrition and dietetics from Florida International in Miami. "I really, really missed doing hospice work when I was in Miami," Michelle recalls.

In the meantime, Joe had begun studying medicine in Birmingham, Alabama. He was lured here by a top-name school, a scholarship and in-state tuition. Joe calls Huntsville home now, because he has family members there and had lived in Alabama three different times before moving to Birmingham more than two years ago. He also attended three years of high school in Huntsville, and that's as close as it gets to permanent when you move around so much with the military.

Joe was born in Germany, and he has lived in nine American cities, from Fort Rucker to upstate New York and California, as well as a stint in Canada.

Michelle has moved around a bit herself, and includes Puerto Rico in her "home" sphere. She has relatives there, and she goes there every year.

Indeed, these two good souls are stricken with wanderlust! Though Michelle is emphatic in wanting to settle in Orlando when she and Joe finish their time in Birmingham in a couple of years, the term "settle" is relative with these two. They can reel off a list of places they've been, as well as places they plan to go.

But while they are in one spot for a while, they will continue to volunteer their time and talent. They came to be Community Hospices of America volunteers via a most unusual avenue: They looked in the phone book for a hospice and simply called one and asked if they could help.

They visit with patients, and eventually lose them. "My patient just died from a massive stroke," said Michelle. In that situation, Michelle sat with the patient to give a break to the caretaker-daughter, who had quit her fulltime job to do this duty. And Joe volunteers by visiting patients in a nursing home.

They'll take a break soon from their many duties to visit New York, Boston and Vermont for the Christmas holidays, a break they are looking forward to. But they'll soon return to school—and to CHA—to continue giving of themselves in the New Year.

1 others have done this "5 minutes of caring" To date, you've cared for 0 minutes on CoolPeopleCare.org

Post a comment

You must be a registered user to post comments.
Log in or create an account.