Over the festive season the 40-strong team of volunteers at Noble’s Hospital will be continuing to play their part in supporting patients and their families.
You will see them helping out in a number of areas around the hospital, from meeting and greeting to supporting new mums and assisting patients with their meals. Other areas where they help include the Day Assessment and Treatment Centre, the Cardiac Unit and the Blood Clinic.
One of the volunteers is proficient in British Sign Language and runs a weekly session teaching others to communicate with patients who have hearing loss.
Tanya Corlett, the Volunteer and Student Placement Officer, runs the volunteer team from her office in the Noble’s Hospital entrance hall.
She said: ‘It’s a good team and a lovely group of people.’
One of her hardest working volunteers is John Hines. Despite being a wheelchair user he puts in around 40 – 50 hours a week in his volunteer role.
Tanya said: ‘John is always on the go: he loves going round delivering letters and flowers to patients and helping them at mealtimes.’
John also offers companionship to dementia patients and says that this is the most rewarding aspect of his volunteer work.
He said: ‘My father-in-law died with dementia so it’s nice to help other people who have it. Also, I get a disability grant from the government so it’s nice to give something back.’
Tanya said: ‘John has proved himself to be invaluable.’
However, spending so much time going round all over the hospital in his wheelchair has caused John some problems with pressure sores. When the Trustees at the Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trust learned of this, they immediately bought John a £700 medical grade air cushion and a new backrest for his wheelchair. The new cushion is attached to a pump that moves air through it in a ripple fashion, continuously moving the contact point of his skin on the cushion, helping to prevent and heal pressure sores. This has helped to alleviate the problem and allowed him to carry on helping other people.
‘It’s made a big difference,’ he said.
Henry Bloom Noble Healthcare Trustee Malcolm Clague said: ‘The Trust was very happy to fund the air cushion and new back support for John. As a former Surgeon at the Hospital, I very much appreciate the dedication and hours of invaluable work and support that volunteers at the Hospital put in in assisting patients, helping things move smoothly, and often going unnoticed to others, but very much appreciated by both staff and patients. I would encourage anyone with a few hours to spare to consider joining the remarkable team at the Hospital and assist them in keeping up the good work that they do.’
* You can also find more information and apply online at https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/statutory-boards/manx-care/volunteer-with-manx-care/ or by visiting the hospital and enquiring at the Welcome Desk.