As part of Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June) University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) is celebrating its fantastic volunteers by sharing their stories.
Around 370 people volunteer across the Trust’s hospital sites in roles such as welcoming visitors and helping with general enquiries, gardening, assisting at meal times – distributing meals, making drinks and talking to patients and helping at fundraising events.
Yvonne has volunteered for the Trust for 25 years. She said: “Volunteering has a positive impact on your health; it helps to reduce boredom and loneliness. We all enjoy the social interaction and helping our patients by providing information and directions.”
Through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Trust has received a staggering amount of support from the local community and ex-members of staff who have gone above and beyond to help our staff and patients.
Sandra Lively, a retired midwife, who has lived in Halton near Lancaster for 30 years, wanted to do her bit during the pandemic by making a few pairs of scrubs and donating them to staff at the Trust. Sandra enquired about purchasing fabric from Standfast, Lancaster, sufficient to make two to three pairs and was ‘stunned’ when offered a donation of 1,000 metres of fabric, enough to make 300 pairs of scrubs. Within seven days of advertising for volunteer help via Facebook, the new ‘Morecambe Bay Scrubs’ group was formed. To date, over 60 volunteers have joined and 60 sets of scrubs have been donated to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.
Sandra said: “The response has been overwhelming. So many people want to participate in different ways.”
You can read the full story at https://www.uhmb.nhs.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/trust-celebrates-its-fantastic-volunteers