Missing my volunteer service at Community Hospital during pandemic
By Chuck Sambar, Auxiliary volunteer since 2016
Other than family, what I miss most while sheltering due to the horrific COVID-19 pandemic are the terrific Auxiliary volunteer friends, medical staff, and my volunteer service in the Outpatient Surgery Center at Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.
There are nearly 450 volunteers who offer their time to help others and enhance the quality of Community Hospital’s healthcare through the Auxiliary, Therapy Dog Program, Hospice of the Central Coast, and Chaplain Services. I am very fortunate and privileged to volunteer with the Auxiliary, alongside an incredibly impressive and amazing group of individuals who find great satisfaction supplementing the work of the medical, clinical, and non-clinical staff at the hospital and beyond.
You can tell an Auxiliary volunteer by the bright red jacket
or red or gold polo shirts they wear in hospital locations that include the reception desk, Carol Hatton Breast Care Center, Tyler Heart Institute, Emergency department, Fountain Court Café, surgical services, and the Comforts Gift Shop, among other places.
Volunteers welcome, check-in, and transport patients, greet visitors, answer questions, give directions, deliver flowers and magazines, walk around with their Fido, and act as a liaison between doctors, nurses, and family members. Outside the hospital, volunteers serve in ways and places including Rehabilitation Services in Marina, Salinas, and Hartnell Professional Center; with the mobile health clinic; and transporting hospice patients to medical appointments or simply providing them with friendly visits.
My assignment with the Auxiliary is in the Outpatient Surgery Center, where I serve as a liaison between patients, their families, and the nursing and medical staff. My duty is unbelievably enjoyable, satisfying, and rewarding. I welcome wonderful people and work with an incredibly dedicated, skilled, professional, caring, and proud group of nurses, surgeons, and staff. The patients and their families are always gracious, warm, and very appreciative.
COVID-19 has kept me and fellow volunteers away from Community Hospital, but we can’t wait to return to our volunteer duties.
To become an Auxiliary volunteer, you apply and undergo an interview, health screening, vaccinations, and important training on safety procedures, patient privacy, and hospital services. Volunteers are guided by the Auxiliary mission statement:
“To enhance the quality of service given for the comfort, care, and well-being of patients, and related needs of their families, visitors, staff, and community.”
