St. John’s, Antigua, August 15, 2010 –
Mount St. John’s Medical Centre has officially announced its Volunteer Program. Members of the community are being encouraged to share their talents/time to help enhance MSJMC’s patient services. The overall program will include the following components:
• Hospital Volunteer Program: This involves individual hospital assignments.
• Corporate & Community Volunteer Program: This involves working with employees from various companies, community organizations/clubs etc. as a group.
• Junior Volunteer Program: This involves opportunities for juniors between the ages of 14 to 17 years old.

“We want to offer our patients and families a more personalized experience when visiting the hospital”, said Salma Crump, Marketing & Communication Manager at MSJMC. “When they’re here the last thing we want them to worry about is how to get to their destination. Our “Front Door Team” will be here to help in this regard. It is our goal to provide this gold standard in customer service.”

There will be two (2) phases. The first phase of the Volunteer Program will involve the following areas:
• Front Door Team: This involves escorting patients to appointments, giving directions/act as a guide, creating a warm and welcoming environment.
• Patient Representative (Emergency Department (ED)): This involves tracking the progress of patients as they enter the ED, facilitating communication with medical staff, directing families and patients to hospital and community resources (if/when necessary), offering support as families await news of their loved ones and assisting the Triage staff with signing in and escorting patients.
• Corporate & Community Volunteer Program: Volunteers in this program can work in pairs or small groups. Assignments may include: Bedtime reading, Tea/Coffee hour (primarily for parents and caregivers) Book/Comfort Cart, Plan special events or activities.

The second phase of the program will launch in December 2010.

Continued Crump, “We decided to launch the overall program in phases because we wanted to get a better understanding of how this new structured approach to volunteering will work within the hospital plus we want to be able to monitor the patient, family and volunteer experience and properly work out any issues before going full steam ahead. Once this is done, all other aspects of the program will be open.”

All potential volunteers will be interviewed, screened and assigned specific duties. For more information and to schedule a time to learn more about becoming a hospital volunteer contact the Volunteer Services Office at (268) 484-2251