essentia health’s volunteers

For Kerri Anderson

the season of giving doesn’t just come around the holidays. Volunteering is not only the focus of her professional life, but she also shares her time and talents in her personal life.

As supervisor of volunteer and guest services, Anderson recruits and trains volunteers for Essentia Health in Fargo. She started as Essentia Health-Fargo’s gift shop manager in 2004 and became supervisor of volunteer and guest services in 2009. Anderson began with 50 volunteers and now has around 160.

The 43-year-old volunteer supervisor describes herself as a people person and problem-solver so her job suits her well. She earned a degree in education from Minnesota State University-Moorhead so teaching and training volunteers is a good fit.

Anderson herself is an active volunteer. She has volunteered with her children’s 4-H club, coached softball, taught Sunday school, tutored children and supervised parental visits for a social service agency. Her whole family rings bells for the Salvation Army and helps with the annual rodeo in Hawley, Minnesota, where they live.

Anderson and her husband, Danny, have two children, Hoyt and Morgen, and they work to instill in them the importance of volunteering. Both children volunteer at the Fargo hospital. Hoyt has been part of an annual landscaping and cleanup day with Concordia College students. Morgen plays an elf and delivers gifts to hospitalized patients at Christmas. “Patients’ faces just light up when they see her,” Anderson says.

“I want my kids to know that only doing something to get something in return is not a good way to look at the world,” Anderson says. “When I volunteer, I know I feel a higher sense of accomplishment. I know I’m helping other people and making someone’s day better.”

In her job, Anderson works with volunteers ages 16 to 93. Some have helped for years, while others, especially high school or college students, make a short-term commitment. Most volunteers work at Essentia Health-Fargo and the clinic that shares the 32nd Avenue medical campus.

“Our volunteers are a special group. They’re here because they want to be here,” Anderson says. “People giving up their personal time is huge. It seems so many of us have so little time, but these people know the value of volunteering and giving of yourself.”

Many volunteers greet patients, families and visitors at hospitality desks. Patient escorts help people get to their appointments. “We’re always looking for outgoing individuals who assist our patients and their families,” Anderson says.

This month, the hospital’s gift shop is re-opening after being closed for four years to accommodate a series of construction projects. Anderson is eager to stock the store and recruit volunteers. The gift shop will be open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but Anderson would like to offer evening and weekend hours as well.

In the hospital’s newborn intensive care unit, volunteers help families create scrapbooks, do babies’ laundry, organize supplies and occasionally rock babies. In the hospital’s restaurant, hosts help people get their food, carry trays and tidy tables. Nearby, volunteer musicians sing and pianists play in the hospital atrium. All around the hospital, volunteers wheel a cart of books and magazines to share with patients and family members. Other volunteers help with office duties and special events.

Volunteers are asked to work one four-hour shift a week but the schedule can be flexible. High school students can fulfill their volunteer hours. Partnerships with area colleges bring students who are pre-medicine majors or pursuing degrees in physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. They work in departments related to their majors.

There are even opportunities for people who’d like to contribute from home, Anderson says. Knitters and crocheters make baby hats. Crafters make blankets for every child and teen who is hospitalized. Other people donate to an annual holiday giving tree or bring clothes to give to patients treated in the hospital’s emergency department.

Anderson is open to a volunteer’s ideas on how he or she can help. “We’re always trying to make life easier for our patients and lighten the workload of our staff,” she says.

TO VOLUNTEER WITH ESSENTIA Health, or to ask about opportunities, call Anderson at 701-364-8898 or email kerri.anderson@essentiahealth.org.

• Do not overload electrical outlets with too many decorations or appliances.

• Extension cords used for holiday decorations should be checked for fraying/damaged or exposed wires.

• Carefully inspect all electrical decorations before you use them. Cracked or damaged sockets and/or loose or exposed wires can cause serious shocks or start a fire.

• Make sure that cords are not pinched in doors, windows or under heavy furniture, which could damage the cord’s insulation.

• Always unplug electrical decorations before replacing bulbs or fuses.

• Make sure a live tree is watered daily.