Gifted with a flower: Volunteers at Echuca Regional Health were surprised with the gift of a Camellia Volunteer, which is a specially released and named flower for the International Year of the Volunteer in 2001.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Holding the title of the longest-serving volunteers at Echuca Regional Health, Cedric Kippie and Judy Clark have sorely missed helping others.
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Volunteering stopped at the hospital during the pandemic, but the volunteers are hoping they will be able to return to their duties at some stage in June.
Ms Clark volunteered in the accident and emergency department and Mr Kippie was a volunteer concierge at the hospital.
Ms Clark, who has volunteered for 12 years, said she missed the camaraderie, and being able to provide care for the “clients that are all so special” to her.
“We love being there for people,” Ms Clark said.
“People who visit the hospital are often scared and anxious — if we can spend the the time to give them some much-needed TLC then that makes all the difference to their experience.”
In a similar fashion to Ms Clark, Mr Kippie said he had missed the social element of meeting and getting to know people through spending time at the hospital.
“We love meeting and having a chat with people — whether that’s people in the community, hospital staff or our fellow volunteers that we have formed friendships with,” Mr Kippie said.
“We cannot wait to get back into the hospital and start helping out again.”
Happy National Volunteers Week: Volunteers at Echuca Regional Health have not been at the hospital since the beginning of the pandemic, but have been sorely missed by staff at the hospital.
Photo by
Steve Huntley
Although volunteers are not yet permitted back into the hospital, staff at Echuca Regional Health still wanted to throw a celebratory morning tea to show them they were missed and had not been forgotten about.
Volunteer and community engagement officer Kaliste Fordham said volunteers played a significant role across the different areas of ERH’s health service.
“Over the last 2.5 years, they have been very much missed by not only staff but by the community that come through our front doors,” Ms Fordham said.
“We can’t wait to start reintegrating the volunteer program back into ERH over the coming months.”
Volunteers were gifted with a Camellia Volunteer flower, which is a type of pink flower that was specially released and named for the International Year of the Volunteer in 2001.
All of the volunteers are looking forward to being welcomed back into ERH and hope the announcement will come soon.
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