Grasyn Hatcher discusses book donation to ETSU Health Pediatrics Clinic
How many books were donated recently, and what inspired you to coordinate this donation?
I estimate that this last donation was roughly 2,000 books. I was inspired by my mother to organize this donation. She was a middle school librarian and is now a high school librarian in Sullivan County. Throughout the years, my mother has managed to make readers out of hundreds of children. Sadly, when I was working in the clinic, I noticed that these same kids were not receiving books as they had aged out of the books provided by the grant. When I mentioned this, my mom and I got to work devising ways to get donations for older kids. Together, we managed to reach out to local libraries and coordinate donations of old books as well as donations of past classroom sets. My mother has worked with older kids for years and noticed how hard it is to get support for programs geared towards kids 12 and up. She has dedicated her life to helping those kids who are unnoticed, and I could not be prouder.
How long have you been with the ETSU Health Pediatrics Clinic, and what has your role included?
I have worked with the pediatric clinic for 3 ½ years now. I started out working on the VA campus helping Dr. Schetzina get her new office straightened out, organizing totes, and getting an inventory on the books in her office. This took me a full year to complete. Once finished, I was moved to the clinic. In the clinic I coordinate donations, stock pods with books, and anything else needed.
Why did you choose your position at peds?
I choose to work with pediatrics because I have an interest in becoming a doctor. It let me work with amazing people who share a likeminded interest in caring for people.
What are your future plans?
I recently got accepted into dental school at UTHSC. This means I will be moving to Memphis at the end of the spring semester. After dental school, I hope to return to the tri-cities area as we do not have enough dentist in our area.