Volunteer visits are highlights of residents' days
Monday, April 10, 2006 -- Craig Anderson
Calling volunteer work “extremely important,” and regular visits by long time volunteers the “highlight of many resident’s days,” Riverview’s volunteer coordinator just wishes the home had more of them to go around.

And while the home currently enjoys the help of roughly thirty volunteers - both young and old – there are still times when volunteer assistance could make a big impact.

“Socially it’s always very important, and certainly at meals we could always use help,” says Mary-Lou Raymant, a restorative care aide who serves as volunteer coordinator for eleven hours a month.

Riverview has a number of regular volunteers who help with activities and provide special programs to residents. Phil Walker, a long time volunteer who attends lunch from Monday to Friday to help with feeding, recently opened a tuck shop offering snacks and sundry items. The tuck shop is open three days a week. Phil also offers a snack cart service to residents who are bed ridden or less mobile. (see also: Volunteer connects with residents lacking family support).)

Trent University students are a factor in the home – running the “Trent Literacy” program. Student volunteers read to residents once a week, a service of special importance to the visually impaired.

High school co-op students, who attend Riverview to complete forty-hour placement requirements, usually are paired up with residents to play puzzles or games, explains Mary-Lou. Some residents prefer older volunteers because they can more readily identify with them, she adds.

“We really try to hook volunteers up with residents who need the most help, those who don’t have a lot of visitors, or with people we think they will enjoy.”

Students are also encouraged to take residents for walks, she notes, especially those who are inactive and spend an inordinate time in their rooms.

“It changes up their routine, and it’s good from a social angle,” she says.

Mary-Lou, who received PSW training and an activities in gerontology diploma from Sir Sanford Fleming College, took the volunteer coordinator position after it was vacated just over two years ago. With long term care volunteer experience of her own – Mary-Lou volunteered at the now-defunct Mary Crest home in 1977 when she was working as a secretary at GE – the position seems a natural fit, she says.

“I love it – I have done a lot of little jobs, including caring for my parents when they were ill as well as administrative work – that all tie in to this one. This is where I should be.”