Volunteer overcomes disabilities to assist at hospital
Anecdotal evidence suggests that few patients on the ninth floor of Ste-Anne Hospital in Ste-Anne-deBellevue can resist Zoe Chalkousi’s quiet charm.
Chalkousi volunteers by doing office work and helping out in the hospital’s thrift shop, but her natural talents are put on full display when she spends three days a week interacting with patients who are often feeling isolated, sad or frustrated.
The 24-year-old has a mild intellectual disability and cerebral palsy. She gets around with the help of leg braces and a walker. Multiple hip surgeries and back surgery have left her living with chronic pain. But Chalkousi refuses to let pain get in the way of the job she loves. Rain or shine, she takes adapted transport to the hospital every weekday. The work has helped her open up to people.
“It’s changed me,” Chalkousi said. “I’m comfortable here. I have a physical disability, so (the patients) can relate to me and I can relate to them.”
This week is Quebec Intellectual Disability Week and Chalkousi took time out of her hospital shift to talk to a reporter about what people with disabilities can offer to the working world. Quebec Intellectual Disability Week focuses on educating people about how people on the disability spectrum can contribute to society.
“I love helping people,” she said. “Everyone has something to offer to the world. At the end of the day here, I’m just glowing. The people here are very supportive. I’ve worked in other places and it hasn’t been like this. There is a special bond here.”
The hospital is not the only outreach work Chalkousi does. She also regularly visits autistic twins who live in the West Island. She takes them to movies and restaurants, or they just hang out at home doing fun stuff.
Chalkousi is one of nine volunteers with disabilities who help out at the hospital through the Intellectual Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Physical Disability Programs Directorate (ID-ASDPD). Volunteers co-ordinator Tania Shand is responsible for identifying each volunteer’s strengths and then matching those strengths to the task at hand.
“I see the results of their work,” Shand said. “Zoe and the other volunteers bring the patients joy and comfort. They offer social stimulation. The patients begin participating more.”
Shand recounted how a patient who spoke only Greek was frustrated and isolated because of the language barrier. Chalkousi speaks Greek so she was brought in to listen to the patient and was finally able to inform the staff that what the patient had been repeating again and again was that she was hungry.
Chalkousi has also forged a special relationship with a patient who has advanced Alzheimer’s. She is able to calm the patient’s agitation and is also the only person the patient recognizes.
“When Zoe comes down to the office at the end of her day, she is radiant,” Shand said.
The ID-ASD-PD social integration program works with 800 people with disabilities, finding them environments they can contribute to while learning news skills. The hospital program was implemented by ID-ASD-PD’s Carolyn Walker.
“Zoe is the perfect example of the relationships you can (forge) in these environments,” Walker said. “In other work places, people often have the attitude that they are doing us a service by accepting people with disabilities. Here (at the hospital) it is clear that the team is doing the hospital a service with their work.”
For information about becoming a volunteer at the Ste-Anne Hospital, call 514-761-6131, ext. 2769, email benevolat.comtl@ssss.gouv. qc.ca, or visit