Volunteering!

Hey guys,

Every Wednesday night I volunteer at my local hospital on a surgical ward, so I thought I'd just share some of my experiences and thoughts with you.

I've been volunteering at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge since late 2013 and can honestly say I've thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Yes, some nights have been hard or extremely sad, but after all, that's life - there will be good and bad days. I help out just before and during dinner time meaning I get the great opportunity of being able to chat to the patients as well as helping them to decide what they'd like for dinner. Surprisingly even the simplest of things, such as deciding what to eat, can be tricky. I especially enjoy advising patients who have certain dietary requirments what they can and can't eat because at times this can really be a challenge!

However, my favourite part of volunteering is being able to meet such a diverse range of people, whether they are patients, visitors or healthcare professionals etc. They're all so interesting and I'm so happy that I've been lucky enough to just be able to sit down with these people and have a chat; whether it's about something serious or the weather.

I feel like these two hours each week have taught me so much. I'm much more confident talking to others who I maybe wouldn't have normally talked to, am able to better sympathise with those in hospital/their visitors, as well as realising that people may feel completely different to how they may first appear. This really hit me when I spent about half an hour chatting to one of the elderly gentlemen on the ward. He seemed so bubbly and so calm about the operation he was due to have the next morning. He couldn't stop smiling! Then all of a sudden he turned to me and said in a saddened whisper 'who am I kidding? Tomorrow is going to horrific. I'm going to die'. Suddenly in that moment the whole conversation changed and slowly, as we talked more, I learnt about his life and why he was so worried about his operation. I discovered that this operation was to remove a cancerous tumour; the same type his wife had died from a few years before. It was really difficult to remain calm and professional, when in reality all I wanted to do was give him a big hug and tell him everything was going to be ok; yet, nobody really knew if it would be.

I know by just giving two hours a week I'm not going to achieve anything absolutely amazing or change the world, but if I can just improve one patient's stay then it's 100% worth it. Also, the enjoyment and 'buzz' I get from helping out on the ward is brilliant. It really picks me up even if I've had a super stressful day.

Volunteering is such great fun and I truly believe that you can make such a huge difference from such a small action - try it; I can guarantee you'll love it!

Please feel free to comment etc. and subscribe - it means a lot!

Lizzie

 xxx