Pulse
Not Your Grandmother’s Auxiliary
The role of the hospital volunteer has expanded since the candy striper’s day.
By Lisa Harden
A former Iraqi physician wipes down cots at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids while a retired baker greets people at the information desk and a recent college graduate keeps a family informed while their loved one undergoes a cardiovascular procedure.
Today’s hospital volunteers are more diverse than ever. They range in age from teenagers to centenarians, come from a variety of backgrounds, and bring a multitude of professional and life experiences. And while they still run coffee and gift shops, hospital volunteers also provide needed services to patients and their families, hold fundraisers, and serve as policy advocates, among other things.
Clearly, the hospital auxiliary is not what it used to be. “When you use the term ‘auxiliary,’ people get the idea of older women sitting around knitting,” says Wendy Hazzard, who recently published a book about hospital volunteers in Minnesota. “But that’s just not true anymore.”
At Mayo Clinic’s Rochester Methodist Hospital, for example, volunteers give hand massages to patients. Volunteer coordinator Barbara Kermisch had heard about nontherapeutic massage at a conference and with permission from Brent Bauer, M.D., director of the Complementary and Integrative Medicine Program at Mayo, started the Caring Hands program five years ago, in which volunteers are trained to give nontherapeutic, relaxing hand massages. “Caring Hands massage is often an oasis of calm during an otherwise busy and sometimes anxiety-provoking hospital stay,” Bauer says. “Many patients talk about it as a highlight of their stay—and as a resource that helped them get through challenging times.”
Inspiring Stories
As a member of the Health Care Auxiliary of Minnesota (HCAM) board, Wendy Hazzard heard a lot of stories from volunteers. She was so compelled by some of them that last year she turned those stories and others into a book, The Power of One, the Service of Many, which will be available this month in hospital gift shops and online at www.mnhcam.org.
Hazzard logged 2,000 miles traveling across the state to attend auxiliary meetings to share her idea and solicit stories. As a result, she received hundreds of email submissions. Among the ones she recorded is that of Michelle Marx, now volunteer coordinator at Essentia Health-Fosston, who reflects on the power of presence as she describes reading the Bible to a hospice patient as she took her final breaths. Another is that of Beth Wheatley, M.D., of Fairview Milaca Clinic and Northland Medical Center in Princeton, who describes how her experience as a teen hospital volunteer inspired her to become a physician.
“The book honors the contributions of auxiliaries and volunteers,” Hazzard says. “We hope it will provide a platform for auxiliaries to learn from each other and inspire others to volunteer.”—L.H.
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At Queen of Peace Hospital in New Prague, members of the auxiliary not only work in the hospital but also distribute food, clothing, and personal goods to those in need through the hospital’s Peace Center, which is located in a house across the street.
And at some hospitals, auxiliaries are increasingly involved in raising large amounts of money for equipment or projects that aren’t in the capital budget. When Louise Cottrell assumed the presidency of Mercy Hospital’s auxiliary in 1998, the group had $200,000 in its bank account. She worked with her board to donate $100,000 to help launch the hospital’s new heart center. She also stepped up fund-raising efforts, organizing twice-monthly activities in the lobby where volunteers sell everything from jewelry to Christmas stockings, Valentine’s Day balloons, and Easter baskets. Last year, the auxiliary donated $120,000 to remodel the ICU at Mercy.
Today’s Volunteer
People volunteer for a number of reasons. For one thing, a growing number of retiring baby boomers are looking for meaningful ways to use their skills and give back, says Kermisch. “It’s not just coming in and sitting at a desk. The volunteer of today wants to feel competent."
Rick Carlson, a recently retired economist for the St. Paul District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is an example. Carlson started volunteering at Mercy in April, after he underwent a triple bypass there. “I received such wonderful treatment that I wanted to give something back,” he says.
Carlson brought years of experience working with databases, so Volunteer Director Julie Hogie set out to find a job where he could put those abilities to work. So far, he has developed a spreadsheet for tracking activities in the hospital’s service recovery program. “That’s not something that any person off the street could do,” Hogie says.
College students and recent graduates looking for opportunities to explore potential careers are also seeking volunteer work. Rachelle Schmitt, who recently graduated from Anoka Hennepin Technical College’s medical secretary program with a degree in computer technology, is considering becoming a health unit coordinator (HUC). As a volunteer in Mercy’s cardiovascular waiting area, she communicates with hospital staff, including HUCs and OR staff, and patients’ families during procedures. “Volunteering allows me to see what an HUC does on a daily basis,” she says.
Although the recession hasn’t prompted large numbers of unemployed people to seek volunteer jobs at hospitals, some are doing it to build their resumes and make potential connections. For example, a recent housekeeping hire at Mercy had volunteered 500 hours at the hospital before landing the paid position.
Adjusting to the New Reality
Given the changing profile of volunteers and the changing needs of hospitals, auxiliaries themselves are having to evolve. “Like any successful organization, auxiliaries must learn to think strategically,” says Prudy Knaak, a retired English teacher who volunteers at Rochester Methodist Hospital and serves as president of the Health Care Auxiliary of Minnesota (HCAM), which represents auxiliaries at 100 hospitals and long-term care facilities across the state. She says auxiliaries today need to focus on leadership, best practices, education, advocacy, networking, and social experiences to succeed. To foster success, HCAM has developed educational modules on such issues as meeting management, conflict resolution, fundraising, advocacy, and recruitment.
Knaak notes that recruiting and retaining volunteers is a constant challenge. However, something as small as changing the color of the volunteer uniform can have a big impact on an auxiliary’s image and ability to recruit volunteers. Rochester Methodist’s primarily female volunteers for years were known as the “Pink Ladies” because they wore pink smocks. In deference to the growing number of male volunteers—and in hopes of increasing their numbers even more—the hospital recently switched to blue smocks for their volunteers.
Although the number of volunteers at Mercy Hospital has remained relatively flat, averaging between 500 and 550 during any given month, Hogie admits it’s sometimes hard to place the people who do call her. “We may get someone who calls us after watching an episode of ‘Oprah’ and is motivated to come in right away and rock babies, but we can’t simply place them right away.” Mercy volunteers must pass a background and health screening and participate in a two-hour orientation session and a four-hour training shift before they can officially start. They also must commit to volunteering 50 hours before they “retire.”
Value Added
In 2009, more than 24,500 volunteers provided 1.5 million hours of service at Minnesota hospitals and long-term care facilities for an estimated value of $32.4 million, according to HCAM. In addition, they contributed more than $2.4 million in dollars or equipment to their facilities.
That value is not lost on hospitals. “The auxiliaries and all the volunteers who work in our organizations provide tremendous value to our patients and communities,” says Lawrence Massa, president of the Minnesota Hospital Association. “They do things hospitals would not otherwise be able to do. They add hands, eyes, and ears.”
They also bring new ideas and services. For example, two years ago, a retired radio DJ came to Mercy looking for a way to volunteer his time. He now arrives at 5 a.m. to greet patients arriving for surgery. “We didn’t have anything like that, but we realized that there were lots of retired people who used to work early shifts who could help out, so we started a new volunteer assignment that has been such a tremendous gift to our patients,” Hogie says.
Rochester Methodist’s Kermisch emphasizes that what volunteers give to a hospital is “priceless.” “I don’t let a volunteer leave the hospital without saying thank you,” she says. “No matter where they volunteer, it’s clear that the hospital wouldn’t run as well without them.”