'It's very rewarding': Volunteers are the backbone of our hospitals

Canberra Health Services' volunteer manager Kathleen Rampant, front left, with volunteer Finlay Simpson, front right, with, from left to right at back, volunteer Richard Heaney, Canberra Hospital assistant director, client services Anne Folger-Pleuger and volunteer Deepani Kapuruge. Picture by Elesa Kurtz

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.