Gary Kelly and Dolores Murray at the Meet and Greet volunteer programme launch at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
A NEW project, launched last week, could help make life a little less stressful for those members of the public engaging with the hospital services in Ireland.
The Meet & Greet Volunteer Programme at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital will see a team of local people - dressed in black tee-shirts with a ‘Can I Help You?’ logo - guide people around the vast hospital complex.
Over the last number of years the hospital has grown to the size of a regional establishment and that has added to the problem of visitors, would be patients and patients getting confused about where to go once inside the building.
Enter Siobhan Lyons, RCSI Project Leader for the Healthy Ireland programme.
As part of the programme, which aims to tackle obesity and other elements of present day health education, the need to make a hospital visit more friendly and accommodating for people was tackled.
‘It can be a stressful environment and and I think this will improve patient experience,’ she stated.
She sees the hospital as a ‘collaborative environment’ and last December, met Grainne Berrill from the Louth Volunteer Centre and other hospital services and took it from there.
A friendly face to greet people as they enter the front door can be huge and as Siobhan remarked ‘it is that little something that means so much.’
She feels the project and the ideals behind it can ‘grow and grow’ and it is hoped to increase it across the hospital groups.