(Please note the above photo was taken pre COVID mask wearing requirements)
This week we celebrate National Volunteer Week, an important time to recognise and honour the exceptional contribution our approximately 400 Monash Health volunteers.
We also thank and acknowledge the contribution of our consumer advisors and the approximately 250 volunteers from external organisations. As part of the Visiting Volunteer Program these volunteers provide specialised services such as entertainment, pet therapy, family support, and services for our maternity, newborn, and cancer programs.
2020 was made even more challenging with the absence of volunteers across our campuses. We have been thrilled that as restrictions have eased, we have begun to see them back supporting our patients, employees and community once again.
Every day our volunteers assist in delivering the very best care and support during what can be the most challenging times in people’s lives. This might be providing direction to a lost patient or family member, sitting by a distressed or lonely patient’s bedside, or answering questions during a time of deep anxiety or confusion.
The theme for National Volunteer Week 2021 is Recognise. Reconnect. Reimagine.
To our volunteers, we say thank you for your time, contribution, goodwill and kindness, assisting in the delivery of excellence every day.
We look forward to formally acknowledging and thanking our volunteers at a luncheon at Southern Golf Club later this week, along with some stories published on our intranet. If you see our volunteers this week, we encourage you to say hi and thank them for their contribution.
20 years of service recipient, Chris Phillips, shares firsthand his experience of volunteering at Monash health.
Approved by Dr Anjali Dhulia.