The purple-shirt brigade of volunteers for Canberra Health Services literally keeps the city's hospitals running, according to the services' volunteer manager Kathleen Rampant.
"Honestly, and you can ask anybody who works here, if we didn't have volunteers, the hospital just wouldn't operate," she said.
"The time nurses would have to take getting someone a tea or a coffee, they're doing that for them. And it's not replacing nurses, it's not replacing doctors, it's giving them time.
"If we've got an elderly patient in ICU who doesn't have family, they've got a volunteer who can sit and talk to them for two hours and is not watching the clock.
NATIONAL VOLUNTEER WEEK
This week is National Volunteer Week, Australia's largest annual celebration of volunteering. This year's theme is "Something for Everyone", emphasising the myriad of opportunities to volunteer in the community.
For Canberra Health Services, the charge is on to recruit more volunteers, especially with the new Critical Services Building, including a bigger emergency department, due to open by the end of the year.
Ms Rampant said Canberra Health Services had just under 300 volunteers but "we need about 1000".
"Because of COVID, we had a huge reduction in numbers so we're currently trying to get out there and recruit more and double our numbers at least," she said.
There are 16 volunteer programs available in Health Services, from paediatrics to the emergency department to the intensive care unit to programs beyond the hospital.
Volunteers can spend anywhere for 90 minutes a week to three hours a week helping to special fundraising events.
"Some people come in once a week, some people come in once a month," Ms Rampant said.
Something for everyone
Retired Phillip academic Richard Heaney, 69, volunteers in the emergency department at the Canberra Hospital three hours a week, helping people and making sure items are stocked.
"We also cover paediatrics so sometimes I come in and see if the parents want something to drink or the kids need toys or ice creams or ice blocks. The hospital supplies them," he said.
"It's a chance to give back. I mean, we all have health problems. And, also it's pretty hard to knock back a smile from someone who gets something to drink or something to eat. It's just a nice thing to do."
Retired finance officer Deepani Kapuruge, 60, of Isaacs, started this year volunteering once a week with the paediatrics department, supporting play therapists, helping babies to teenagers, whether that's doing some colouring in or a word search, to keep their mind from their treatment.
"It's very rewarding to be able to help," she said. "We get to do some fun activities too. I like the interaction. My children are older and I enjoy doing this and looking forward to doing more."
Finlay Simpson, 20, from Gungahlin has a very personal reason for volunteering with the services' P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth) Program.
She was just 13 when her dad, a cyclist, was injured in a hit-and-run accident. He is now fine but the trauma was long-lasting. The help a young Finlay received from a trauma nurse looking after her dad was the inspiration for her volunteering for the program and starting to study nursing next year.
The program runs sessions in schools and hospitals. Students have the chance to meet and hear from emergency service professionals, doctors, nurses, therapists and people who have experienced trauma, including car crashes. It is hoped it will help them to make safe choices in their own lives.
'I look out for their wellbeing'
Finlay volunteers once a week, meeting students and helping the professionals.
"We'll take them to the ED and ICU and run some simulations with a dummy, usually a crash victim," she said.
"The kids have to wipe the dummy when he's in ICU and make sure he doesn't get pressure spots. They identify the tubes and neck braces and why they have that. And they go into the ED which is where they have to assess the [dummy] patient and find out what's wrong with them.
"It's pretty confronting, like it can be quite real to a lot of students so I tend to look out for the wellbeing of the kids, to make sure they're doing OK.
"I really enjoy the interaction with the kids and it gets me into the workplace where I want to be. I want to be a trauma nurse and it's nice to experience parts of that. It's very interesting."
- The link for more information about how to volunteer with Canberra Health Services is here.
