Anne Love, Western Trust Volunteer Manager with volunteers Angela Grant and Valerie Brown
WESTERN Trust volunteers come from all walks of life, from different backgrounds, ages and locations. All choose to get involved for many different reasons. As Anne Love, Western Trust Volunteer Manager explains, each and everyone is valued for the contribution they make in helping in their wards, with services and in patient care.
“The Western Trust places great value on the contribution made by our volunteers. When you consider the range of work done by these dedicated people who give up their time to complement the role of paid staff and enhance the patient experience, you cannot help but admire their commitment.
“When you walk through the doors of this hospital, the first thing you see are people standing in front of you with smiles on their faces who are waiting to help you. Nothing is too much trouble for them when it comes to taking people to where they need to be, answering questions or offering guidance.
“Some people might arrive in and say they have to go and park and can they leave their elderly relative with them for a moment.”
Mrs Love says volunteers must be 16 years of age when they register with the Western Trust and do not require any specific skills, training or experience.
“Volunteering attracts people for a number of reasons. Young people get involved because it will look good on their CVs and will be a bonus when it comes to trying to get on a course or for future job applications. The experience you gain from it will put you ahead of the pack. Then we have those who simply get involved for truly altruistic reasons because they have time on their hands. Older people who are retired join us because they still feel that they have a lot to offer.
“All of the staff in the hospital go out of their way to get to know their volunteers because they are there to enchance and enrich patient experience. It is not job substitution and there is a very rigorous process around becoming a volunteer. Each of them has a role description which sets out very clearly what they’re doing and sets the parameters of the post.
“The volunteers enrich the role of paid staff and especially in an acute hospital where it is busy, our staff don’t have the amount of time they would like to spend with individuals so quite often the volunteer can sit and chat instead. The patient feedback on our volunteers is always excellent.”
For those considering a medical career, Mrs Love says volunteering provides a useful insight into hospital life.
“If you want to be a nurse or doctor, the best way to learn is to watch what they’re doing. We are fortunate that the staff here at the South West Acute are so committed to offering opportuntities especially to young people in a range of different ways.
Mrs Love says the Trust are always on the lookout for volunteers.
“If you’re over the age of 16, we’d be more than happy to talk you through the process. We are required to check immunisations to protect both the volunteers and patients and some roles will require police checks and training. Our volunteer intake in Fermanagh is steadily growing and in last year we have increased our numbers by 35 which is excellent.
“My message to anyone considering joining us is, what’s keeping you from applying? Don’t let anything hold you back as volunteering is really worthwhile, offers you endless opportunities, provides new friendship groups, allows you to learn new skills and is also just good craic.”
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