Thirty volunteers have donated nearly a thousand hours of time and care to hospitals across the Northern Rivers since June as part of an official program launched this year.
The Healthcare Helpers volunteer pilot program was announced in February after its serious consideration partway through the pandemic in July 2021.
‘I was employed to investigate volunteering in our hospitals,’ Northern NSW Local Health District Volunteering and Fundraising Manager Claire Quince said on Monday.
‘We’ve always had volunteers but it wasn’t an official program,’ she said, ‘over Covid we took a long time to think about what the program should look like’.
The pilot program focussed on Lismore, Grafton and Maclean Hospitals, with 30 volunteers contributing around 900 hours.
Ms Quince said public health district authorities across the region wanted to be included.
Applications had been expanded to volunteer roles at Tweed, Nimbin, Ballina, Bonalbo, Urbenville and Kyogle Hospitals.
Murwillumbah, Byron and Casino Hospitals were to join next year.
Any approved volunteer was able to work in another participating hospital without having to repeat the training, Ms Quince said.
Eighty Northern Rivers locals already had their names on a waitlist to volunteer, she said.
Volunteers to start supporting mental health, dementia patients
Volunteer roles weren’t to replace qualified paid work but rather to allow ‘medical staff to get on with their jobs’ and to improve the experiences of patients and visitors, Ms Quince said.
‘They all have position descriptions and training to make the boundaries clear,’ Ms Quince told The Echo, explaining all volunteers were buddied up with a professional healthcare worker, usually a supervisor, while on shift.
A range of roles was available, ranging from meet and greet volunteers to social support companions for patients undergoing surgical procedures, cancer treatment and dialysis rehabilitation.
‘We speak with the general managers of the hospitals and their management teams to work out priorities for the program,’ Ms Quince said, ‘some wards are more complex and require more training’.
Emergency departments were an example and Ms Quince said the program would only include one to start with, at the new Tweed Valley Hospital when it opened next year.
The same was said of ‘women’s care’ or maternity wards, although the demand was high across the region.
Volunteers would start to appear in mental health wards by the second half of next year, although Ms Quince said it was possible they would need to have experience in other wards first.
Lismore, Tweed and Grafton hospital admins had just started to accept applications for volunteers in dementia wards, previously excluded from the program.
‘Some roles have further specifc training,’ Ms Quince said, offering the example of volunteers in renal units supporting patients on dialysis treatment.
Public residential aged care facilities existed at Multi-Purpose Services in Nimbin, Bonalbo, Kyogle and Urbanville, where companion volunteers were being recruited to provide social support and help with outings.
‘We ease them into it,’ she said, ‘most do one four-hour shift a week – one morning or afternoon’.
All cultural backgrounds welcome
Vetting and training of volunteers was painstaking, Ms Quince said, customised to the individual’s needs and in accordance with national volunteering standards and NSW Health policy.
‘Some people have intellectual disabilities, English as a second language or they come from culturally and language diverse backgrounds,’ Ms Quince said, ‘we really go at their pace’.
Ms Quince said once mandatory checks such as police and working with children were complete at no cost to applicants, most volunteers were ready to hit the wards after about four shifts of on-the-job training.
‘They also have a special day with senior nurses, security, staff from infection control,’ she said, ‘they talk about core values, then we have a nice lunch and some team building’.
Most people volunteering on the Northern Rivers so far were of retirement age and living locally, Ms Quince said, with most successful applications women.
But a 21-year-old male volunteering at Lismore Base Hospital was a notable exception and just about anyone was welcome to apply.
Volunteers needed to be at least eighteen but prior medical experience wasn’t required.
Vaccinations were required, with the exact number and type dependant on the relevant wards.
Meet and greet guides required the fewest vaccinations at two doses of a Covid 19 vaccination.
Emotional preparedness was also considered, with applicants asked to disclose any recent losses of loved ones within the healthcare system.
‘If they have lost someone in the oncology unit in the past twelve months, for example, we wouldn’t place a volunteer there,’ Ms Quince said.
Nevertheless, hospitals can feature distressing scenes and Ms Quince said volunteers wre required to check in with supervisors at the start and end of each shift.
‘Anything significant is logged, the same as it is for paid staff,’ Ms Quince said, ‘and the employee assistance program is available to all volunteers and their families for free’.
Ms Quince said the program included psychology, social work and counselling services.
Funding for the volunteer scheme came through existing community engagement budgets at NSW Health.
The rewards of volunteering
Earlier, the local health district had issued a media release calling for more volunteer applicants.
The statement included the story of Lismore resident and volunteer Nelly Luza Condori, said to have come originally from Peru.
Ms Condori reportedly decided to volunteer because she wanted to collaborate with the community and expand her skills.
‘I can meet new people and interact with them,’ Ms Condori was quoted saying, ‘it’s a great opportunity to develop social skills and improve my English as well’.
Murielle Cook, a volunteer at Grafton and Maclean hospitals, was quoted saying the appreciation she received from patients and staff members was a huge boost.
‘I find helping my community, nurses and patients so fulfilling and important to me,’ Ms Cook said.
Anyone interested in applying for the volunteer scheme was invited to visit the NNSWLHD website or contact Claire Quince on [email protected] or 0459 953 520.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
