The busier people become, the less time we’re able to set aside to volunteer. Still, that doesn’t mean organizations need volunteers any less than they used to. Hospitals are one type of organizations that rely on volunteers from their community to complete essential tasks.

Why do hospitals depend on volunteers? Let’s count the ways…

1. Make Hospitals Run More Smoothly

Volunteers aren’t extraneous. They’re not window dressing. At hospitals, volunteers are put to work. Even if they’re sitting behind a desk, filing papers, answering phones or manning cash registers, they’re freeing up experienced staff members to complete more intensive patient care duties.

An enormous organization like a hospital can’t help the community it serves without an efficient administrative staff to support its operations. Hospitals are also incredibly expensive to operate, so staffers are stretched thin. Volunteers help them tackle every daily task on their long to-do lists, ensuring that they can keep their doors open 24/7.

2. Help Patients Access the Healthcare They Need

While many towns and cities are increasing funding for accessible transportation that takes patients to and from hospitals and doctor’s offices in non-emergency situations, there’s always more work to be done. That’s where volunteers come in.

Some volunteers hop behind the wheel to collect patients for regular appointments or treatments. Without these individuals, many patients would have no way to maintain the therapies prescribed by their doctors or to return to the hospital for check-up and follow-up visits.

This service is in especially high demand in spread-out locations that are served by few healthcare facilities. As more rural hospitals close, the need for this sort of volunteer continues to increase.

3. Reunite Visitors with Their Loved Ones

Being a tour guide at a local hospital might feel like a useless task, but it’s important to both the way the hospital is run and the experience of its visitors.

Hospitals are mazes of floors and wings, and every hallway looks the same. An experienced volunteer who knows how to navigate the building is a godsend to visitors who are more focused on their loved ones than on memorizing the floor plan.

When volunteers can give directions, escort visitors and answer basic questions about what’s located where, they save doctors and nurses from being flagged down for assistance. That means more time they can spend practicing medicine and taking care of patients.

4. Ensure Hospitals Have Well-Stocked Supply Closets

Running out of supplies in the middle of a medical emergency is a nightmare that happens in hospitals every day. Thanks to volunteers who are charged with inventorying supply closets, cabinets and carts, though, these tragedies are far less likely to happen.

Restocking on medical clinic supplies is another essential task that hospitals rely on support staff and volunteers to execute regularly. Without them, nurses and doctors would have to take valuable time out of their rounds to inspect drawers and shelves—time they don’t have, thanks to budget cuts and hiring limitations.

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5. Help Hospitals Care for More Patients

During busy times of the year, like the winter flu season, beds are limited. Hospitals need to serve as many people as they can without shortchanging care, which is where volunteers come into play. They speed up change-overs between patients, helping move sick folks from the waiting room to diagnostic areas to beds to rooms and then, finally, out the door as they return home to recover.

Many volunteers will tidy waiting areas, change linens and answer phones. These duties allow certified nurses to move from case to case without the distraction of more mundane tasks.

6. Boost Patients’ Spirits During Long Stays

When you’re stuck in a hospital bed, the time you spend between scratchy sheets seems never-ending. Even when they’re brief, activities and social visits help break the days up. From reading to groups or individuals to throwing parties, playing games with kids and bringing in service animals, every little bit makes a difference.

How? These volunteers help patients stave off depression. Research suggests that depression in hospitalized patients can prevent them from getting better. Something as simple as a stranger sitting by your bedside makes a tangible difference in people’s lives and recoveries.

7. Bring the Holidays to Hospitals

Who has time to craft paper chains, put up garlands and decorate for the different seasons? Volunteers, of course!

They add cheer to the otherwise plain and dismal hallways that span every floor of the building. Everyone from doctors and nurses to patients and visitors spend many long hours traversing these halls and waiting in these rooms. They’re away from their families in high-stress environments and those who are ill need a little bit more help finding peace. A bit of decor brings a cozy touch that’s otherwise absent in a sterile atmosphere. We say putting a smile on anyone’s face is worth the effort.

8. Be Surrogate Family and Friends to Patients Who Are Otherwise Alone

People are more spread out than they’ve ever been. They’re also working longer hours for less money. That means more and more patients are spending more and more time alone in hospital rooms as they wait for diagnoses, treatments and recovery.

There are premature babies in the NICU that need skin-to-skin cuddles while their parents aren’t in the building. There are kids in the children’s wing whose parents can’t hang out with them all day because they need to work. There are those who are estranged from their family, and those who have outlived their loved ones. Volunteers keep them all company, giving them a much-needed reprieve from bad TV, hospital food and loneliness.

 

As you can see, volunteering isn’t a minor matter for hospitals around the country. Volunteers are worth their weight in gold. For doctors and nurses, they aren’t a bonus–they’re a necessity. To find out how you can give back to your community, contact your local hospital system today.