National Volunteers’ Week begins today and runs for a week (1 – 7 June) and St Columba’s Hospice has announced new statistics about volunteering at the Trinity-based charity.
The Hospice has nearly 700 volunteers who work alongside staff to deliver care and support to patients and families from across Edinburgh and the Lothians. The new statistics have been released with an infographic which shows a selection of the roles undertaken by the Hospice’s volunteers.
The Hospice has collected data for the year April 2016 – March 2017, showing that:
– the Hospice has 662 volunteers
– volunteers range in age from 16 – 92 years old
– 64,000 hours were donated by volunteers in 16/17 and,
– the time donated is valued at £1,000,000.
The volunteers work in a range of roles including on the wards and in day hospice, offering complementary therapies, on reception, driving day hospice patients to the charity’s Granton site, offering specialist counselling and even bringing in their pets as therapets.
Some of the teams with the most number of volunteers are:
– Tin Collectors Team with 74 volunteers
– Day Therapy Services with 16 volunteers
– Floristry Team with 39 volunteers
– Reception Team with 71 volunteers
– Ward Team with 61 volunteers
– Patient Driving Team with 55 volunteer drivers
– Iona Café with 73 volunteers
– Charity Shops with 214 volunteers.
Anne Cruickshank, a patient at the Hospice, said: “The volunteers at the Hospice are outstanding. My hair was getting awfully long and it’s a long way to the hairdresser, so I was able to visit the volunteer hairdresser at the Hospice instead who took me that day, I couldn’t believe it!”
Pat Brown, a volunteer tin collector for the Hospice, said: “I wanted to be a volunteer and do something outside. Volunteering for the Hospice runs in my family as my mum was a volunteer in the Iona Café in the original building some 30 years ago. I love being a volunteer because I enjoy meeting other volunteers, and building relationships with people. I am always impressed by the amount of positive comments I hear from people about the Hospice when I am out in the community.”
Karen Filsell, the Hospice’s volunteer services manager, said: “Everyone at St Columba’s Hospice is proud that volunteers have been involved since we first opened our doors four decades ago in 1977. Even before our doors opened, volunteers were working hard to raise money and support to set up the Hospice.
“Almost 700 people currently volunteer alongside our dedicated staff here at the Hospice, in our shops and out in the community. Over the past year, the time that our volunteers have given us can be valued at £1 million – but the care, skills, kindness and energy that our volunteers bring is worth much more than this to the people that we support. We would like to say a huge thank you to all those who volunteer for us – and we look forward to welcoming volunteers for the next 40 years!”
To find out more about volunteering at the Hospice, please go to www.stcolumbashospice.org.uk.
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