Volunteer Week, June 2020
On behalf of the whole Hospice - patients, families, friends and staff - we’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to the volunteers who have supported us over the past year. It’s not just about the 92,000 hours which we value at £1.2million - although that’s pretty impressive!
Over the past year our volunteers have, yet again, gone beyond our expectations to: make coffee, support patients, sell books and clothes, rattle tins, offer counselling and complementary therapy, help with our research and teaching, and much more besides.
You’ve brought your skills, energy, kindness, and challenge to everything you have done for us. It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to work with you.
COVID-19 Volunteering
Where possible we are bringing back volunteers into re-designed roles to support our services at this time.
Geoff Rae is currently volunteering on our wards, cleaning the kitchens:
"I clean the ward kitchens post lockdown, a role which no longer allows me patient contact, something I miss greatly. However, every volunteering role, seen and unseen, contributes to the best care and protection we can possibly give patients and their families, and supports our staff.
"I have a favourite memory...two nurses wheeling a patient to her bath, all three singing 'All things bright and beautiful'. There is still joy in St Columba's - even in the midst of a pandemic and I volunteer with a smile."
Volunteer Drivers
In recent weeks we have asked some of our volunteer drivers to collect and deliver PPE.
Iain says, "The conversation collecting PPE boxes was more limited than when ferrying patients and relatives to and fro, but there was still the same sense of doing a worthwhile job."
Karen says, "I was really happy to help out as I love my volunteer work. It was lovely to get a wave from people who had donated PPE (from inside their houses). It made it feel that wee bit special!"
Our volunteers are vital to our care, and we are working to bring them back into redesigned roles.
Recruitment of new volunteers is on hold, but when that changes we will update these pages.
For information about how you can help out locally, please contact Volunteer Edinburgh
Volunteer Edinburgh
