Auxiliary Volunteers

(Above) Unity Health associates and volunteers were elated when the volunteers came “home.” Here, Dr. Justin Franz, Orthopaedic Surgeon, hugs volunteer Lynda Goldman, Surgery Waiting Desk. Their eyes express the happiness all felt.

(Right) Charles Kitts, Unity Health volunteer, helped establish the Lobby Greeter/Screening station. Having volunteers fulfill the task of screening all who enter the facility helps our staff tremendously. Before this service began, associates were rotating shifts.

Special Section

Ready,Willing and Able: Volunteers Fill Gaps During COVID

By Carol Evans, President, Arkansas Hospital Auxiliary Association

COVID-19 can’t keep the spirit of Arkansas Hospital Auxiliary Association (AHAA) volunteers down! When the pandemic struck, most hospitals asked volunteers in our 52 auxiliaries to stay home and stay safe. Before many days passed, AHAA volunteers found ways to safely keep up our service. In the early days when masks were hard to find, volunteers sewed hundreds of masks for hospital workers and community members. Many of us learned how to conduct Zoom meetings and did all we possibly could to keep our groups connected. Some auxiliaries were allowed, under strict rules, to open their thrift stores to serve the public. Some devised creative ways to hold fundraisers. Some were allowed to serve hospital employees by keeping their gift shops open. Many auxiliary volunteers worked call centers and vaccination clinics when they began operating throughout the state.

Auxiliary members are devoted to their hospitals. Each of us comes to this work in our own way. My volunteer life began after my second bout with cancer; I knew I wanted to be of help to others. I never dreamed I would hold a leadership role, let alone during a worldwide pandemic. From this vantage point, I can tell you that the commitment of AHAA’s board of directors and district chairs, its local leaders and hospital auxiliary teams, is amazing. Like many organizations during COVID, our in-person meetings are still replaced by Zoom meetings, but we are finding remarkable ways to help our hospitals despite the challenges COVID puts in our path.

We can all be proud of AHAA’s auxiliaries and how they've handled themselves during the pandemic! We’re an aging group, yet we do all we can within each hospital’s COVID restrictions to continue helping Arkansas’s hospitals and the public. No day is guaranteed, but every day is a blessing. Every hospital has its own processes during COVID; though some hospital auxiliaries are not yet able to volunteer in person, many are returning, in whole or in part, to their inperson work.

Please read on to see how three of our auxiliaries are blessing others during COVID-19.

UNITY HEALTH: NON-TRADITIONAL VOLUNTEER SERVICES

When the pandemic hit, many everyday activities, including hospital volunteer programs, came to a halt. While scientists researched the pandemic, our hospitals were faced with supply shortages, coordinating testing centers, and protecting staff while caring for our communities. As the initial months of the pandemic subsided, many volunteers became vaccinated and were ready once again to serve.

Shortages of masks and isolation gowns brought the Unity Health Auxiliary into action. Its Gentle Hugs Committee is comprised of volunteers who agreed to sew masks and gowns. Hospital associates and a local church donated material, and the volunteers began supplying masks by the hundreds. They also made many washable gowns to be used if the need arose.

At the beginning of the pandemic, Unity Health utilized a Memphis lab which could provide COVID test results in 24 to 48 hours. Couriers –multiple Unity associates – took shifts delivering tests to the Tennessee lab each day. Then I was approached for assistance; could the auxiliary provide courier service to the lab? Knowing our auxilians’ heart for service (not to mention that many were experiencing “cabin fever” and were ready to get back to work), I was able to build a team of drivers within a day. They enjoyed the drive time, but the true reward was knowing they filled an urgent need.

The next COVID testing hurdle: calling patients with lab results. We quickly assembled a team, and volunteers were making negative result call-backs in no time, helping deliver prompt answers to patients.

Processing the amount of equipment being received into Materials Management was the next challenge. Volunteers, who prior to the pandemic helped twice per week placing labels on each incoming product, were now needed daily. This volunteer team is still providing much-needed relief to the staff.

When regulations called for every person entering the hospital to be screened and documented, volunteer stations were built at the entrances. Several auxiliary members answered this call and are still serving the need today.

After a year of COVID isolation, Unity Health was ready for its surgery desk, messengers, and gift shop volunteers to return. Although processes had changed, the volunteers were a welcome sight to patients and visitors, but mostly to our associates who deeply missed the “grandparents” of our Unity Health family. Having volunteers provide the additional layer of communication in surgery waiting is priceless. Receiving confirmation that they are in the right place provides comfort to an already-nervous patient and family member. We knew this before COVID, but we appreciate these volunteers even more after being without them for so long.

Each year, the Special Olympics of Arkansas is held in Searcy on the Harding University campus. The event was canceled in 2020 but when it was scheduled for 2021, excitement filled the air. Unity Health auxiliary volunteers were able to play games, educate people on proper sunscreen application, and provide healthy snacks.

Another annual mission for the Unity Health Auxiliary is Unity Health's medical mission, CommUnity of Caring. The auxiliary not only donates

(Above) Mercy Hospital Berryville Surgery Waiting Area Chairman Anita Spearman (left) orienting new auxiliary volunteer Robin Butler (right). In the background is one of the surgical status monitors which the auxiliary purchased for the hospital during the COVID shutdown.

(Bottom) Volunteers Peg Meyer and Sheila Middleton at the check out counter of Baxter Regional Medical Center's Flippin Bargain Box, one of two auxiliary thrift shops. Proceeds support special services and equipment needs for the medical center.

monetarily, but several volunteers help in the preparation and execution of this event. During COVID, volunteers filled bags with personal care items and groceries, and they also acted as escorts for community members seeking free health care.

Over time, more volunteers are returning. We aren’t at our pre-COVID numbers, but we are on a steady path of growth. Returning to volunteer stations and longtime projects such as sewing oversized stockings for the Christmas babies, making newborn caps, and stamping linens means a lot. We are especially grateful to have served as COVID-specific hurdles arose. Our volunteer program remains strong. -Kathy Gammill, President, Unity Health Auxiliary

MERCY HOSPITAL BERRYVILLE: STILL SERVING!

Mercy Hospital Berryville Auxiliary continues to provide service during the COVID shutdown by volunteering at the Surgery Waiting Area. Although the auxiliary hospital gift shop, information desk and thrift store have been closed, we are still able to provide service to our hospital.

The auxiliary has recently participated online in the 2022 Black and White Roundup, sponsoring a COW (Computer on Wheels).

The Roundup is the annual Mercy Health Foundation fundraiser to provide equipment for the hospital. -Neta Sue Stamps, President, Mercy Hospital Berryville Auxiliary

BAXTER REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER: CHALLENGES CONFRONTED AND MET

2020 and 2021 are now pandemic benchmarks in Baxter Regional Medical Center Auxiliary’s 60-year record of memories.

Many adjustments have been necessary to accommodate changing requirements during the years of the pandemic. For the auxiliary, one stabilizing component is the regard that our hospital demonstrates for its volunteers. At Baxter Regional, each auxiliary member feels empowered because our hospital leaders consider the volunteers integral and valued components of the organization. From COVID’s outset, the senior leadership team’s total transparency and inclusivity kept all employees and volunteers aware of and current on developments surrounding COVID. We appreciate being included in hospital communications.

When volunteers were eventually given clearance to once again become engaged throughout the organization, there were caveats. Due to COVID-19, we could not hold group gatherings, a mainstay of volunteer organizations. In the interim, we are developing substitute activities.

Traditionally, our monthly (and popular) group luncheons were held with a brief program to celebrate and recognize volunteers having a birthday within the calendar month. As an alternative, Baxter Regional Volunteer Services contracts with a local bakery to exchange large, decorated cupcakes for birthday coupons sent to celebrating volunteers. Participation has been very strong.

Another challenge was the opening of our hospital gift shop and two community thrift stores. We are responsible for enforcing mask and social distancing disciplines with customers. We post signage detailing requirements to shop, encourage customers to use floor decals as guides for maintaining social distancing, and urge the use of disinfection stations. Masks are available for those shoppers who enter without one, and a volunteer is stationed at each entrance to ensure compliance with these precautions.

To safely continue offering our popular passenger shuttle service, volunteers can no longer allow seating next to the driver. All passengers are required to mask before boarding, and sanitizers are readily available to all.

Another area where our volunteers serve during COVID is at vaccination sites within the hospital as well as those in public locations. Baxter Regional held several COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics for the community, and our volunteers assisted staff at each of these.

Even during COVID, this past year our BRMC Auxiliary is proud to have volunteered in excess of 64,000 hours and raised a record total of $647,000 to meet the capital needs of our hospital. We are proud to serve Baxter Regional Medical Center. -Jim Whalen, President, Baxter Regional Medical Center Auxiliary

Special Section

Baxter Regional Medical Center holds periodic Drive Thru Thank You events for the volunteers, where they drive through the hospital parking garage and pick up various gifts of thanks for their service. Here, Jim Whalen, Auxiliary President, and Carolyn Hannon, Auxiliary Scheduling Chair, prepare to hand out Tervis stainless steel tumblers.