Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital is gearing up for the spring opening of its new tower by recruiting volunteers who will serve in the tower in general and in the tower’s emergency room.
Taylor Medley, the hospital’s volunteer manager, says there is no specific goal for the number of new volunteers, but the hospital has “more than 200 working across two dozen programs” and will supplement that with the new volunteers.
The volunteers will work in shifts from early morning to mid-evening and will perform a number of tasks, often dealing directly with visitors to the hospital, keeping them comfortable, providing directions and keeping company with those visitors. For example, there will be expanded routes for hospitality carts.
Those who apply (at carilionclinic.org/volunteers) will get valuable training and an interview with Medley to help determine where they would be the best fit.
“Very often,” says Medley, “the volunteer is the first person visitors to the hospital see.” Good candidates include college students, retired health care professionals, people who work but would like to feel the benefits of volunteering.
Medley says those benefits for volunteers include a great deal of satisfaction in knowing they are helping: “I’ve had volunteers tell me that they never finish a shift without knowing they have made a positive impact on somebody’s life. It is rare that other volunteer opportunities have that kind of impact.
“These volunteers also make lifelong friends and they are active, not sitting behind a desk. They can get their steps in with a shift.”
The emergency room in the tower is expected to open this spring, and the remainder of the tower should be open my mid-year, according to spokesman Pete Larkin.
The link for volunteers is carilionclinic.org/volunteers.
