What Can I Do?
Leadership Opportunities exist to chair many areas listed.
Administrative Offices
Clerical Assistant
Volunteers assist the office staff by answering phones, xeroxing, running errands and performing other jobs and special job-related duties as requested. Volunteers are positioned in hospital offices such as Center for Performing Arts Medicine, Center for Professional Excellence, Human Resources, Marketing, Foundation and Volunteer Services.
Human Resources Volunteer
Volunteers assist the director and project managers in human resources with projects, collating new employee orientation packets and customer communication. Volunteers also assist the office staff by answering phones, xeroxing, running errands and performing other jobs and special job-related duties as requested.
Patient and Unit Involvement
Book Cart Department Volunteer
Volunteers make reading material available to hospital patients by taking the book carts to the patient floors. The volunteers maintain an orderly book room out of which they stock the Service Corps book cart with magazines, hardback and paperback books.
Cardiac Cath Lab Volunteer
Volunteers help to improve customer service and better serve our staff and communities. Promote a healthy lifestyle.
Companion Volunteer
Provide vital support in the hospital setting by companioning and interacting with patients who suffer from loneliness, boredom, anxiety, low spirits, etc., due to extended hospitalization. Patients will hopefully benefit from distraction/companionship as part of their pain management regimen.
ICU Volunteer
Volunteers assist family members of surgical patients and supervise visiting time in the waiting room. Following surgery, they accompany the family to receive the doctor's report and to visit the patient. They maintain the unit's admitting and discharge records, emergency telephone numbers and other pertinent information.
Nursing Unit Volunteer
Volunteers assist nursing units in many ways. They visit patients, pass water and meal trays, feed patients, write letters, read to patients, pass out patient information pamphlets, run errands for patients and nurses and perform a variety of other tasks related to patientcare.
Patient Liaison Volunteer
Volunteers act as liaisons for patient issues and participate in the resolution of problems and communication of services, to maximize patient and family satisfaction.
Surgical Waiting Room Volunteer
Waiting Room volunteers assist family members of surgical patients and supervise visiting time in the waiting room. Following surgery, they accompany the family to receive the doctor's report and to visit the patient. They maintain the unit's admitting and discharge records, emergency telephone numbers, and other pertinent information.
Methodist Transplant Volunteers
Opportunities exist for patients and caregivers who have successfully coped with the challenges of a solid organ transplant and are willing to share their information and valuable experience with others who are considering transplantation or who are newly transplanted.
Wellness Service Volunteer
Volunteers assist the office in daily operations while supporting the patients and department in the implementation of wellness activities.
Hospital Greeting and Hospitality
Ambassador Volunteer
The Ambassador Program's vision is to create a welcoming environment for Methodist patients and other customers. Ambassadors greet visitors and when appropriate, give directions, escort or provide a wheelchair.
Blood Donor Center Volunteer
Volunteers greet and assist patients and families as they arrive and wait in the center. Volunteers serve as information desk workers/greeters for the Blood Donor Center's front desk area. They may assist in labeling and assorting certain items, but provide no direct medical care.
Doctors' Coffee Bar Service
Volunteers assist in serving food and drink to the Hospital's Medical Staff in the Doctors' Coffee Bar on the third floor of the Main Building.
Emergency Department Comfort Cart Volunteer
Emergency Room volunteers assist nursing staff in greeting patients and families as they arrive in E.R., offer blankets to patients upon request and serve coffee to waiting families. They update patients to be admitted on the status of their room assignments, help familiarize families with areas of the hospital and furnish information on Intensive Care or Coronary Care if applicable.
Gift Shop Volunteer
Volunteers will serve the hospital and its guests in a courteous and helpful manner while performing a variety of duties to ensure normal business operations. Volunteers may assist with customers, operating the cash register, pricing and stocking items or gift wrapping.
Information Desk Volunteer
Information volunteers answer telephones while using the computer for locating patients' rooms and phone numbers. They direct visitors to patient rooms and other locations in the Hospital and Texas Medical Center. They also assist guests by answering a wide variety of questions.
Tour Volunteer
Volunteers escort health/science high school groups or other interested groups to view cardiovascular-thoracic surgery. Volunteers explain some of what is seen in the operating rooms as viewed from the surgery domes. If no surgery can be observed, the groups are taken to several departments including MRI, Rehabilitation, Blood Donor Center and OB/Gyn, where employees or the volunteers explain functions or procedures. Tour guides escort groups to the public areas such as lobbies, the chapel and the Market Place. Guests are told some of the history of The Methodist Hospital.
Promoting the Healing Environment
Art Therapy
Artists create portraits of patients and family members or assist patients in their own artistic expression.
Healing Tiles
Our volunteers assemble Healing Tiles kits for patients and their families to design and create their own tile when they are in the hospital. The completed tiles may be given to friends and family members. They may also be donated to the hospital for display in our waiting areas. The purpose of this project is to help patients and families identify and focus on their feelings through art.
Horticultural Therapy – in development – actively recruiting those seeking Master Gardener certification
Volunteers assist patients in the creation and nurturing of plants, primarily lavender and herbs. Rehabilitative care of hospitalized patients utilizes volunteer horticultural therapists that are skilled at creating garden spaces that accommodate people with a wide range of abilities. People with physical or mental disabilities benefit from gardening experiences as part of HT programs, and they learn skills, adaptations, and gardening methods that allow for continued participation at home. Horticultural therapy is a time-proven practice utilizing the concepts of peaceful garden environments have been understood since ancient times.
Journaling
Journaling volunteers help patients and families create meaningful records to share with their loved ones. Through use of the written word, stories and memories come to life.
Knitting
Volunteers, including employees, knit “Threads of Friendship” every Friday at noon, in the Dwyer Room of the Volunteer Office. These woven hopes become prayer shawls for patients and pink scarves for breast cancer awareness month in October. A service of prayer and dedication is held 3 times annually before presenting the items to patients.
Music
Musicians of all ages perform in the Dunn Lobby or in individual patient rooms. Violinists, string instruments, guitarists and flutists are especially appreciated on the units and are more easily mobile in these areas.
Pet Therapy
Regular visits from therapy pets and their volunteer owners can provide stimulation for conversation in mental health counseling or encourage interest in physical therapy. Studies have shown that when a patient holds or pets an animal, a patient’s blood pressure may be lowered. There is a release of strain and tension, and the contact may help to bring a person out of loneliness and depression. Therapy dogs at The Methodist Hospital are certified through Therapy Pets International or the Delta Society. PAWS of Houston, Inc. can provide a personal visit from your own pet!
Sewing
Volunteers make baby items, cancer bonnets, pony pillows, neck pillows, quilts and tracheotomy bibs.
