Did you ever wonder if you would find volunteering rewarding?

By David McClelland

My wife and I decided to become volunteers after we retired. We had a neighbor who was an active volunteer at St. Joseph Mercy Oakland Hospital in Pontiac and we applied there. Soon, we were working there every week. My wife worked one day in the Gift Shop and a second day in the Coffee Shop and I worked one day each week at the Front Desk.

That was about 6 years ago and we are both still at it. What has changed is that my wife now works the one day a week that I do, but on the 5^th floor in the Mother-Baby area taking care of the needs of new mothers and, sometimes, their babies, whatever those needs may be. We both enjoy our one-day a week of volunteer work at SJMO.

My job entails assisting visitors who want to know what rooms the patients they want to visit are in. I also respond to calls from Nurses Stations all over the Hospital who need wheelchair transportation in order to complete the discharge of patients.

I take a wheelchair to the patient's room and transport them to the front lobby and wait with them until their family member or friend brings the vehicle to the front entrance. I then wheel the patient to the vehicle and assure they are strapped in and have all of their possessions before departing.

The majority of hospitals in SE Michigan are non-profit and depend heavily on volunteers to fill many jobs. At SJMO, there are about 500 volunteers and more than 200 of those are high school or college students. Volunteers have jobs all over the hospital from the Front Desk to the Emergency Room. We are everywhere. You can identify the men by their red jackets and vests and the ladies by their pink smocks.

If you would like to know more about volunteer opportunities, you may visit:

www.serve.gov    or    www.voluntermatch.org