NHS Lothian has paid tribute to the hundreds of volunteers and those who stepped forward to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As Volunteer Week kicked off NHS Lothian took the opportunity to thank people from all walks of life who offered help in many different ways when it was feared that the NHS may be overwhelmed by the virus.
The response from hundreds of people keen to help in the early days of the pandemic was overwhelming and around 620 new volunteers bolstered the ranks of the existing community of 494 volunteers.
They went on to become ward helpers, take up a role in shopping and distribution of donations or laundry, or become meet and greet/stop and gel volunteers in sites all across Lothian, dressed in their purple T-shirts.
Fiona Ireland, Deputy Nurse Director, NHS Lothian, said: “It has been quite heartening to see the response from the public, and to welcome so many new faces to our volunteer network.
“Volunteers really do provide so much across our sites – whether it’s helping patients to video call loved ones, transporting personal laundry to pick up points , fulfilling patients’ shopping requests or assisting with meal times – the friendly faces of our volunteers are having such a huge impact on both our patients and staff.
“It seems fitting, that during Volunteers Week, we take a moment to recognise and celebrate the contribution that every single volunteer is making every single day. Thank you for your continued support.
“The pandemic has seen our volunteering numbers swell, there are positive benefits of volunteering, not only for the recipients but for the volunteers as well – it would be a positive legacy of this situation if we were able to sustain this level of volunteering .”
John Naismith, 59, from Edinburgh, began volunteering as a ward helper when the country moved into lockdown. John, a keen fiddle player, often plays to entertain the patients in the ward where he was posted as a helper in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
The engineer and his wife Serena, 59, were both keen to show their support and Serena, a dyslexia specialist teacher, took up a post providing patients with a shopping service in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.
John said: “We both felt really strongly that we needed to do something to help and show our support. We thought that the NHS was going to be overrun and thankfully that has turned out not to be the case.
“It has been really rewarding for both of us and we have felt as though we have made a difference.”
Dan Williams, 17, from Edinburgh, was volunteering at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh as a ward helper before the pandemic and continued to help as the virus continued to grow.
The secondary school pupil, who hopes to study medicine, took on an additional commitment as a meet and greet/stop and gel volunteer and has clocked up 100 hours in this role alone so far.
Dan said: “I have been volunteering since before the COVID-19 pandemic began and thoroughly enjoy it. Since school closed, volunteering has helped to provide a sense of direction, the opportunity to see and interact with different people and some structure to my week.
“I’m hoping to study medicine at University, so it is great to spend time in a busy hospital, getting a flavour of what the job might be like.”
Volunteering in NHS Lothian is supported by Edinburgh and Lothian Health Foundation, the Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity and the Pears Foundation.
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