FY 16 Volunteer Services D

epartment

Chandler Regional M

edical CenterM

ercy Gilbert M

edical Center

Annual Report

May Peace Prevail on Earth

We accom

plished many significant projects this year w

ith tremendous

teamw

ork and our amazing volunteers’ support.

The Volunteer Services Departm

ent theme seem

ed to surround everyone and everything in kindness. W

e developed the Kindness Closet, an

adaptive loan closet for durable medical equipm

ent for our patients, the Kindness C

art which provided snacks to our hard w

orking nurses, and our volunteers traveled the globe in their H

ello humankindness t-shirts –

sending back photos from around the w

orld.

From crayon drives, teacup drives, kindness bears, baby hats and kindness

greeting cards, we can be proud that w

e made the w

orld a little brighter.

We also celebrated 10 years of the D

ignity Health Sum

mer Volunteen

Program. O

ur first teen, Arka Chadhury, m

ade us proud by completing

his rotation as a doctor in our Emergency Room

s. We have taken pride in

helping students find their passion and becoming successful.

Our gift shops had am

azing sales increases and our 64 volunteers who served

in our shops were patient w

hile we im

plemented a new

Point of Sale System.

Thank you to my dedicated staff for your hearts of gold and thank you to

the volunteers who believe in w

hat we do and w

ho support us along the w

ay. Your contributions are priceless.

Kindly, Barb Farmer, C

AVSM

anager, Volunteer Services and Gift Shops

This photo was taken in our healing garden

Comm

unity Connections W

e partnered with m

any faith-based organizations in our com

munity to nurture hum

ankindness. These are some of

the projects undertaken by our diverse network of com

munity

partners.

• Crochet Club – This team

knitted and crocheted baby hats, and they taught classes. Each baby or cancer patient receives a handm

ade hat, made of love.

• C

omm

unity Grants – Volunteers served on the com

munity

grants comm

ittee to help distribute grants to worthy

applicants who are m

aking nothing short of miracles happen.

• Chronic Pain M

anagement Facilitators – 14 volunteers

became certified to teach chronic pain m

anagement.

• Teacup D

rive – In honor of Sister of Mercy C

atherine M

cAuley, each day new m

oms are served high tea at M

GM

C.

Our com

munity partners donated tea cups that m

oms could

take home as a rem

embrance of their babies’ births.

• Crayon D

rive – 5,000 crayons donated by comm

unity m

ember and 10,000 coloring books by SRP.

• Just Serve – The C

hurch of Latter Day Saints supported

our efforts with crayon drives, lap blankets, baby hats and

blankets.

• Birth C

enter Tours – Volunteers spent 258 hours providing tours.

• K

indness Bears – Each patient who has a birthday receives a

kindness bear.

• Volunteer H

ealthcare Profession Experience Program

– Our C

ampo

Verde High School students

have opportunities to learn about health care professions.

• Blood D

rives – 5 volunteers participated in the United Blood

Drive and 2 staff m

embers.

• RN

Pain Symposium

– Our volunteer Sandi Leavenw

orth w

as invited to teach imagery and visualization to our nurses

to help patients with pain m

anagement.

• Clow

n Town H

ealing Festival – Our PAW

S teams attended

this event which w

as started by Patch Adams.

• H

eart Pillows – O

ur two dedicated volunteers Joan Sisley and

Jo Plozak made over 3,000 pillow

s for our patients.

• St. M

ary’s Catholic Church – C

hildren and parents of this parish m

ade 700 Christm

as trees and our volunteers hand delivered to each patient.

• Tem

ple Havurat Em

et (Fellowship of Truth) – D

onated 100 coloring books and gifts for children.

Chandler Regional M

edical Center

PRO

GR

AM H

IGH

LIGH

TS

• Kindness C

art – Partnered with the Em

ployee Wellness

Departm

ent and received grant to provide healthy snacks to nurses several days a w

eek

• Patient Am

bassadors – Partnered with Service Excellence

Team to develop this new

service area

• Pre-op/PAC

U – First volunteers placed in these tw

o departm

ents

• Traum

a Research Volunteer – Recruited 5 volunteers to support the ED

Trauma Research team

• Kindness C

loset – Established an adaptive loan closet for patients w

ho could not afford their durable medical

equipment

• Area Agency on Aging – Partnered w

ith non-profit Area Agency on Aging to provide public w

ith support and education on M

edicare Benefits

• N

ew Service Areas – M

aterials Managem

ent, Pre-Op, Post-

Acute Care U

nit, Physical Therapy, Care C

oordination and N

ursing Units: M

edical/Surgical, Telemetry and Traum

a

• Patient Portal – Volunteers helped sign up patients for the D

ignity Health patient portal

Applications received 234

# of new volunteers oriented

189

“Let humankindness blossom

” visits 21,958

# of total volunteers in program (active)

313

# of wayfinding escorts

26,141

Courtesy Cart rides offered 27,019

TLC visits 161

Books/m

agazines delivered 3,416

Pet visitations 22,035

Eucharistic Minister visits

8,219

# of positions filled by substitutes 320

Volunteers hired by Dignity H

ealth 5

Lori Mercer, Sr. Coordinator, CRM

C, one of 25 Hello H

umankindness Retreat educators

Mercy G

ilbert Medical Center

PRO

GR

AM H

IGH

LIGH

TS

• Kindness C

ards Project – “Thinking of you” cards were

made by our volunteers and our com

munity partners and

distributed to patients

• 10 Year Anniversary C

elebration – Volunteers were strongly

represented during the 10 year anniversary celebration at M

ercy Gilbert M

edical Center

−15 Volunteers have been w

ith our volunteer program since

we opened in 2006

• Infant Bereavem

ent – Volunteers provided the funding and w

orked this event to make sure all m

oms and dads w

ho lost babies w

ere acknowledged

• ED

Com

fort Cart – Volunteers and volunteens created a cart

for children who are patients in the ED

; the cart contains toys, stuffed anim

als, coloring books and anything that will

comfort and distract a sick child

• C

uddlers – 20 volunteers were certified to becom

e baby cuddlers in the nursery

• Patient Portal – Volunteers helped sign up patients for the D

ignity Health patient portal

• N

ew Services –M

CH

Admin D

esk, Com

munity Education,

Prenatal Fitness Support

Applications received 285

# of new volunteers oriented

244

“Let humankindness B

lossom” Flow

er visits 15,655

# of volunteers working this m

onth281

# of total volunteers in program (active)

336

# of wayfinding escorts

8,221

Courtesy Cart rides offered 35,544

TLC visits 336

Books/m

agazines delivered 3,526

Pet visitations 13,541

Eucharistic Minister visits

7,646

# of positions filled by substitutes 265

Volunteers hired by Dignity H

ealth 6

Summ

er Volunteen Program

Our Volunteen Program

is Celebrating 10 Years!

New

service areas: Operating Room

, Physical Therapy, Materials,

Dignity H

ealth Specialty Trauma and Prim

ary Care

Students participated in many unique projects this sum

mer:

Alaris IV Pump Project, 31 Education Sessions, External Affairs,

Inventory/Moving G

ift Shop and Cath Lab

STATS FOR

FY16

FY16TO

DATE

Total Teens in Program180

963

Applications Received

2692,499

Returning Students

102

New

Students78

Boys

56

Girls

124

Hours Served

8,85663,008

AWAR

DS AN

D ACK

NO

WLED

GM

ENTS

• 2014 Arizona G

overnors Award

• Briefing at the W

hite House

• C

opy wrote and Blueprinted Program

Hum

ankindness Opens D

oors

Ten years ago, Arka Chadhury’s m

other asked if he could w

ork in the Volunteer Services Departm

ent at CRM

C to get

volunteer hours for college. I reluctantly agreed because I w

asn’t that keen on teenagers at the time, but there w

as lots to do in our offi

ces. He becam

e our first “Volunteen.”

When Arka arrived and started to help, I realized that there w

as an am

azing untapped resource in our youth that could enhance the patient experience and support our staff. Since that tim

e, we

have had over 1,200 students participate in the program, and

they have contributed over 54,000 hours.

We have received m

any accolades for the Summ

er Volunteen Program

including the prestigious Arizona Governor’s Aw

ard. And our program

guide was copyrighted and sold to m

any hospitals throughout the country. W

e even had a meeting at the

White H

ouse in Washington D

C.

Today Arka Chadhury is doing his rotation in the Chandler Regional and M

ercy Gilbert M

edical Center EDs for the next

month; and then he w

ill take his boards. By hosting these teens in our D

ignity Health hospitals, the goal is to lay the foundation

of humankindness in our young students and then, w

hen they becom

e medical professionals, they return to our D

ignity Health

family. O

ur patients will benefit, not only from

our former teens’

expertise, but from their belief in our m

ission, vision, and values.

Gift Shops

PRO

JECT ACCOM

PLISHM

ENTS

• N

ew Point O

f Sale (POS) System

– installed and trained our 64 volunteers on the new

computer system

• C

reated New

User’s Manual – w

ith the support of our volunteer Jim

Kern, we developed a new

user’s manual

• Inventory – volunteens helped prepare the storage room

s for inventory; com

pany said it was the best prepared business

they ever inventoried

• Com

munications Book – Am

anda Ryder, Gift Shop

coordinator, developed a comm

unications book for volunteers

• C

RMC

Store Remodel – C

handler shop received new flooring

and lighting

• Jew

elry Sale – we held a very successful sale bringing in over $7K

• C

andy Gram

s for Nursing – collaborating w

ith Nursing

Leadership, we designed and ran a C

andy Gram

program

where everyone could acknow

ledge the great work being

done by our nurses by sending them a candy gift

• 12 G

ift Shop Stories – each month w

e highlighted an act of kindness that happened in the gift shops

• N

ational Speakers “Increasing Gift Shop Sales by Adding the

Element of H

umanity” – increasing gift shop sales by adding

the element of hum

anity

CRM

C$420,512

MG

MC

$353,189

Total$773,701

+$54,125 in gross sales over FY15

Honors, Aw

ards, and Contributions

CRMC – Principles of Behavior Volunteer Aw

ard N

ominees/W

inners

• Lakshm

ee Malladi and Tirin Bharaj, Sum

mer Volunteen

Program Volunteers

• O

wen Kelly

• D

onna Matthew

s and Lexee, Pet Visitation

• Arnie and Shelly H

endon and Abby, Pet Visitation

MG

MC – Values in Action Volunteer Aw

ard

• Julissa Ricks, M

ission Integration Volunteer

• Frank Sullivan, O

utpatient Registration Volunteer

• Sharon Row

land, “Let humankindness Blossom

Flowers”

Volunteer

• Am

anda Ryder, Gift Shop C

oordinator VSD

“I slept and dreamt that life w

as joy, I awoke and saw

that life w

as service, I acted, and behold, service was joy.”

Ravindranath Tagore

Paws Program

According to a 2014 Gallop Pol, 6 out of 10 people living in

America ow

n a pet and 44 percent of those pets are dogs. you im

agine the emotional im

pact of our patients who are

feeling well and w

ho are separated from the one they love?

you visualize a sacred encounter when another pet enthusiast

brings their dog to the hospital to comfort another hum

an being?

• 35,500 visits w

ere made by our team

s this year.

• Team

s participated in Town of G

ilbert and City of C

handler Parades.

• 26 team

s celebrated our successes at Yappy Hour.

• 111 dogs w

ere certified by our volunteers Laura Ibsen and Pam

Reinke. Once certified, these dogs serve at C

RMC

and M

GM

C, w

ith Hospice organizations, in the C

hild Court

System, Reading Program

s in Schools, in Autism C

linics, and m

uch more.

• 42 team

s, serving 7 days a week.

• PAW

S Program w

as a grant recipient from N

eurology and Associates.

Our Vision Statem

ent

Supporting Dignity H

ealth’s mission through engaged, diverse,

and multi-talented volunteers in our hospitals and com

munity

by unleashing the power of hum

anity.

How

it Feels to be a Dignity H

ealth Volunteer Today was a blessing and G

od had his hands ALL over it!

One of the hardest parts of being of a volunteer is the “not know

ing” what

happens to these patients when you leave. You are invited to these lives for

brief mom

ents. Not by their choice at som

e of the most vulnerable tim

es in their lives. You’re not a doctor or a nurse, you are sim

ply there to be present, to offer a sm

ile, a helping hand, an ear to listen. Last week I found m

yself helping a distraught w

oman w

ho’s healthy husband almost overnight quickly

started to fade due to organ failure find her way through the hospital. I

offered my tim

e to visit and listen. That is all I could do. I left her thinking that “this isn’t enough, there has to be m

ore”. There wasn’t or so I thought.

Throughout the week I’ve been praying for this m

an, this family and hoping

that he was finding healing som

ehow.

Today, as I was turning a corner I saw

this man standing, w

alking while

holding onto his IV pole. He looked w

eak but hopeful. I smiled and then the

most am

azing thing happened. The lady I had been visiting with the w

eek prior cam

e up and I knew im

mediately w

ho he was. It w

as Jered. I seriously just stood and cried tears of joy because he’s getting better! I told him

that he had just m

ade my w

eek, I told him that I’ve been thinking about him

and praying for him

and how grateful I w

as to see his progress. I introduced m

yself to him and he said...

we’ve been thinking about you too and thank

you for being there for my w

ife”.

I will never think that w

hat I’m doing is never enough again!!! G

od is so good!Today w

as a great day!

- Kelly Schager, MGM

C Volunteer

Total hours served by our volunteers in FY1684,534

Value of service$1.9 M

illion

V lunteers: H

earts full of hum

ankindness

Mercy G

ilbert Medical Center

3555 S. Val Vista Road

Gilbert, AZ 85297

dignityhealth.org/mercygilbert

Interested in meaningful service? Join us by applying to:

Chandler Regional M

edical Center 1955 W

. Frye Road

Chandler, AZ 85224 dignityhealth.org/chandlerregional