YOUNGSTOWN In volunteer program, cuddling is encouraged

More than 200 people will be shown the ropes in the next few months.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Every hospital patient expects to see doctors and nurses scrambling in and out of rooms as they deal with the needs of the sick and injured.
There are, however, many others moving about most in-patient facilities. They are the ones who always seem to be smiling, the ones who take routine tasks off the backs of health-care professionals, leaving them more time to attend to patients.
They are the volunteers.
St. Elizabeth Health Center has more than 300 of them now and 200 more waiting to be trained in the next few months.
The volunteers will be recognized at a banquet April 24. International Volunteer Week is April 22-28.
The hospital has always used volunteers, but once word of its cuddles program got out, inquiries exploded.
Cuddles is a program in which volunteers hold and interact with newborns. Maureen Metzger, volunteer coordinator, said the hospital got about 300 requests to do volunteer work.
There are not enough babies to go around, but Metzger has developed an expanded volunteer program and is always looking to add to the roster.
Some areas, said Metzger, are staples for volunteers such as the gift shop, where most have been putting in their time for more than 20 years -- some close to 30 years.
Other opportunities: Volunteering, however, has extended into other areas like the hospital's mended heart program, in which those with heart trouble pass advice and education on to others newly diagnosed with such conditions.
Volunteers are now doing phone follow-ups and correspondence with patients and teens are getting involved by delivering newspapers to the rooms.
There's a group that takes patients from their rooms to other areas of the hospital and others who set up movies on VCR for patients.
The volunteer's most important role, however, is just being helpful and friendly, Metzger said, as evidenced by the new hospitality station in the main lobby, which offers personalized services as well as greetings and goodbyes.
It's all about a personal touch, an effort to increase satisfaction and decrease stress in patients and visitors, Metzger said.