Heartbeat: Volunteers thanked at annual celebration

December 24, 2018

Our volunteer service hosted their annual celebration event at the postgraduate centre at City Hospital to thank all the volunteers for their dedication and hard work over the last year.

Over 30 volunteers attended the event and were treated to a special festive buffet and a Christmas quiz. A guest speaker from Sandwell library services informed the group about the ‘Happy to Chat’ scheme to support lonely people and our own library assistants encouraged volunteers to take advantage of our libraries which are based at both City and Sandwell Hospitals.

Liza Gill, Volunteer Service Manager is delighted with the performance of the service in 2018. She said: “Volunteers play a pivotal role as they add value to the organisation and more importantly, complement the care provided by our colleagues.”

The celebration also saw the volunteer team talk about new roles and the launch of vthe hub at City Hospital.

Patricia Hunt, Volunteer Service Manager is thankful to all our volunteers and said: “Without the commitment of our volunteers, the service would be non-existent.

“Our volunteers make a huge difference for patients whether that is through wayfinding, assisting patients at mealtimes or at events across the Trust so it’s always nice when we can give back to them by hosting a celebration.

“I want to say a massive thank you to all of our volunteers for their efforts throughout 2018 and I’m hopeful we can have continued success in 2019 and beyond.”

Amrit Varma, who has been volunteering at the day hospice at Rowley Hospital for just over a year said: “It was wonderful to be invited to a celebration event, I really enjoyed talking to the other volunteers about their experiences in the hospital and we were made to feel that our role is really appreciated by staff.”