Volunteers Play Big Role at North Memorial Hospital
Volunteers help out in a big way at North Memorial Health Hospital.
“We have over 700 different volunteers who provide thousands of hours of help with our customers here, providing a better patient and family experience,” says Kent Spaulding, vice president of development for North Memorial Health. “Volunteers do a lot of information sharing, information gathering and moving people from place to place. They provide services that are hopefully meaningful to patients as they go through their healthcare journey here.”
A group of young women and aspiring medical students volunteer to help at the discharge desk. The “junior volunteers” are high school students who answer phones, transport wheelchairs around the hospital, and even get to deliver flowers.
“I just like helping people by doing this,” says Valerie Ly, who has been volunteering for nine months and wants to go into the health care field one day. “I’ve been able to interact with patients and see how the hospital runs and see what goes on here.”
“Doing our part”
Some days are very busy and keep volunteers hopping from one task to the next.
“We all take turns doing our part. One person answers the phone and the other will take wheelchairs to different destinations,” says Shannon Wagner. “It’s not only providing a service for someone else, it’s very beneficial to me. I’m providing some emotional support and a little extra comfort to someone who might now know what’s going to happen. It’s an emotional push in the right direction.”
Muna Bishar is a volunteer and high school senior who wants to pursue a career in the medical field. She recently received a scholarship from the North Memorial Health Foundation.
“It has been a nice experience to see, learn and pick up skills,” says Bishar.
For many volunteers, the payoff for working hard and donating time comes when they spend time with people.
“I love getting people and hearing them talk about what they have going on,” says Isabelle Yang. “They talk about family and it is exciting to get to know more about patients.”
To learn more about volunteering at North Memorial Health, visit the website to find out you can get involved.
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