By Taylor Chartrand and Charles Lefebvre

Hospital looking for additional volunteers

Mar 14, 2019 | 3:57 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The Medicine Hat Regional Hospital is looking for volunteers to help support patients and their families during their hospital stays.

Tyrone Edwards, volunteer coordinator with the hospital, says the volunteers help enhance the care for patients during their stay,

“We’re looking for volunteers that potentially have a certain skill set, but individuals that are kind of willing to be a part of and those opportunities that we’re looking are more on the direct patient care, which is important to us,” he said. “As I’ve said in the past, we want the experience to be rewarding not only for the patients, but the family members as well. Volunteers bring in opportunity when they come and lots of times, they show their compassion and it’s very rewarding to the patient themselves.”

Some of the duties volunteers perform include helping patients move around the hospital, helping ensure they make their appointments, and even just talking to those who don’t have regular visitors.

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“Visitation is probably one of the biggest areas that we’re really short on,” said Edwards. “The number of volunteers that we’re requiring and that’s where we’re really hoping to have an opportunity to bring people on board and to be involved and to spend some time with some of the patients who don’t have a ton of family members or maybe in a position where family cannot come and visit.”

Edwards says they’re looking for as many possible to volunteer.

“Some people are more inclined to working with people, or they may kind of want to be in the background and not necessarily work directly with the patients, but do other things within the facility,” he said. “So, every activity that we have, we have an assignment description that goes along with it and there’s a training component that we provide with volunteers.”

Edwards adds they’re looking for a commitment of once or twice a month.

Those interested can call 403-529-8847. You can also apply online here.