When you see magical smiles, no thanks are needed
From two volunteers who landed dream jobs with the NHS
I WAS SO SHY... THIS HAS BEEN THE MAKING OF ME
Louise Munro, 24, a graduate, started volunteering at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary in January and is now a paid volunteer service co-ordinator. A VOLUNTEER once told me that no thanks are needed when you have managed to get someone to smile.
And it’s true – once you start volunteering you get hooked on the ‘high’ that comes from leaving someone in a better position than you found them.
It’s a great feeling, almost indescribable and can be quite overwhelming when you know you have made someone feel better. It gives me such a warm feeling.
I started volunteering in January as a way of gaining experience for a career working with people and improving patients’ experiences in hospital.
I have a chronic condition and have spent long stints in hospital – one time I was in for a couple of months – so I know how long and boring the days can be. Later, I took a degree in medical sciences thinking I would get a job as a researcher in a laboratory, but by the second year I realised that it wasn’t for me.
People have this stereotype of a hospital volunteer as a retired person who has a lot of time on their hands, but actually quite a few young people do it too, such as those hoping to have careers in the medical professions or as art therapists.
I’m quite unusual in that I ended up volunteering full time, but I started off doing a few hours a week – it was only because I enjoyed it so much that I took on more hours. I volunteered on six wards across the hospital including care of the elderly, orthopaedics and stroke wards trying to engage older patients in activities to improve their experience in hospital. I had the luxury of spending lots of time with patients, chatting to them about their lives, particularly those with dementia.
I had a trolley laden with props to encourage them to talk about their memories. It is fascinating to find out about who they are and the things they’ve experienced.
I also did a training course so that I could lead a chair-based exercise class called ‘Move it or Lose it’. Only yesterday I had them all doing hand jives.
I must have played 160 games of dominoes, checkers and card games in the past few months. I love it – it’s so lovely to see them engaged, smiling and having a nice time.
I’ll also try to get patients to talk to each other more – there were four older ladies in one of the wards who were appalled that I wasn’t married yet and announced they were going to find me a man and get me engaged by the time they left hospital.
This involved them pointing to every man who came on the ward – doctors, someone’s grandson, literally anyone – then asking if they would do. It was so embarrassing (they still haven’t found me anyone). My family and friends can’t believe the change in me. I was quite shy before and now I spend all day chatting to people – they say it’s been the making of me.
Volunteering is the greatest thing I’ve ever done and it’s also given me a new career path. My confidence has improved and my listening skills have soared exponentially.
Having started as a volunteer, I’m now employed by the trust as a volunteer service co-ordinator. I would not have been able to get a job like this a year ago.
I CAN’T IMAGINE NOT BEING PART OF THIS
Jackie Cormack, 45, is a professional make-up artist who volunteers with the Look Good Feel Better charity, which offers skincare and cosmetics workshops at the Maggie’s Centre for cancer patients at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. I Saw a request for volunteers on Facebook a couple of years ago and got in touch with Look Good Feel Better straight away. The idea of helping women feel better about themselves at a very challenging time caught my imagination immediately and I was invited along to observe a workshop.
I was so taken with the atmosphere and welcome that I got involved immediately and I just loved it. I now go every couple of months and I can’t imagine not being part of this. It’s a cliché but I literally do get a warm glow after spending two or three hours helping deal with the issues their treatment has had on their skin.
As a make-up artist it’s good for me to understand how skin tone can react. It can be dry, rough or red, and eyebrow and eyelash loss is common so we have a 12-step programme for the ladies.
They are all ages, from very young to quite elderly and they often come in quite apprehensive and unsure of themselves and what is going to happen.
we make sure they feel welcomed and relaxed as soon as we start.
There are usually 12 people and up to four volunteers, so we can give them a lot of attention.
I start by demonstrating one of the 12 steps on one of the ladies and then they all try themselves.
They very quickly learn how to create and fill in an eyebrow, or how to use the skincare that will help with dry and rough skin.
A little bit of make-up can be so empowering and it’s such a lovely thing to help with, especially since we can actually see the difference these workshops have – both mentally and physically.
It would be great to see more people volunteering because everyone gets something back from it. You need to have at least one year’s experience in skincare or the application of make-up.
All the ladies who come to us get a goodie bag with skincare and make-up products tailored to match their skin tone, so before they leave, we’ll go through them and explain how to use them.
They leave completely differently from how they arrived. There’s a lot of laughter, confidence restored and self-esteem returning and I simply love being part of that.