Bolingbrook
– Have you considered volunteering but don’t know how to get started? The
holidays are a great time to commit to giving back to your community. Learn
more about the volunteer opportunities available at Adventist Bolingbrook
Hospital at an upcoming open
house. Stop by for cookies, hot chocolate and holiday music anytime between 11
a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Dec. 15-19 at the hospital, 500 Remington Boulevard, Bolingbrook. Check in at the front desk for directions to
the volunteer office.
Volunteers are especially needed
during daytime hours Monday through Friday, according to Volunteer Director Jody
Heilstedt.
“Our volunteers play such an
important role in providing the positive experience our patients and visitors
have come to expect at Adventist
Bolingbrook Hospital,”
Heilstedt said. “It also offers volunteers the opportunity to meet new people,
develop friendships, learn new skills, build self-confidence and gain
personal satisfaction.”
Bolingbrook
resident Steve Grossett was inspired to become a volunteer six months ago after
visiting a friend in the emergency room. He suffered a stroke in 2004 and has
since been on permanent disability, physically unable to return to work as a
railroad freight conductor because of the mandatory 72-hour work week.
According to Grossett, “God’s spirit” moved him to volunteer service. He works
three days a week at the hospital, where he helps patients and visitors at the
information desk and in the medical/surgical units.
“The patients, I like to listen to
them,” Grossett said. “The ones who are feeling bad, I like to tell them my
history. When I’m here, I’m here to work. If I can get water for the patients
or a newspaper for a visitor, I do that. It’s just something small I can do to
make their time here less stressful.”
A longtime community volunteer, Bolingbrook resident Ruthi Sommers started volunteering
at the hospital nearly two years ago. At the time, the hospital was under
construction; Sommers worked in the emergency room reception area at the
hospital’s predecessor, Adventist
Bolingbrook Medical
Center. She enjoys lending
a friendly ear to waiting room visitors whose loved ones are in the emergency
room.
“Volunteering is such a great way
to help the community and pay it forward,” said Sommers, who volunteers on
Tuesday nights and works full time as a secretary at the Naperville Fire
Department. “I’ve been blessed with good health and I’m able to do it, so why
not? Volunteering doesn’t take much of your time – you can spend all day or you
can just spend two hours here. The schedule is very flexible.”
Volunteers are required
to commit to a regular schedule of at least two hours a week for a minimum of
six months, provide proof of immunizations, take an annual tuberculosis test,
attend training and in-service sessions, and be physically able to work on
selected assignments. Volunteers must be at least 14 years old and have
completed eighth grade. For more information, attend the open house or contact
Heilstedt at (630) 312-4000 or Jody.Heilstedt@ahss.org.