Kaitlyn Robinson, a grade 11 student from Auburn Drive High School, volunteers in the diagnostic imaging department at the Dartmouth General Hospital, as part of the high school co-operative education volunteer program. The program is designed to expose students to a broad range of careers giving them a “taste” of what it is like to work in a hospital setting, and to see firsthand how health care teams function.
Photo essay: Volunteering at Capital Health
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9:53 a.m. – Thursday, November 3, 2011
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10:07 a.m. – Thursday, November 3, 2011
Grade 12 student Dominique Hurst, from l’École du Carrefour in Dartmouth, spends part of her placement in the laboratory at the Dartmouth General Hospital. During their co-op placement, students may volunteer in a number of departments and services.
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4:32 p.m. – Thursday, November 3, 2011
Ozra Akhoundi, a local university student and a volunteer with Capital Health since 2008, currently provides meal assistance at the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Building. More than 300 university and college students volunteer each year at Capital Health. Though most come from post-secondary institutions in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), some students are from Acadia University in Wolfville, and volunteer their time at Hants Community Hospital, in Windsor, Nova Scotia.
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4:38 p.m. – Thursday, November 3, 2011
Stewart Whalen began volunteering as a meal assistant at the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Building in October. As a meal assistant, volunteers can assist patients and residents on a variety of units within the QEII Health Sciences Centre. They provide various levels of assistance, including hand-over-hand guidance, prompting and encouragement and actual feeding assistance.
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2:11 p.m. – Friday, November 4, 2011
There is a broad range of volunteer opportunities available at Capital Health. Morgan Knickle-Smith, who started volunteering in the spring of 2011, is a Friendly Visitor with the Mayflower Unit at the Nova Scotia Hospital. In her role, she visits with specific clients on the unit and assists them with variety of activities within the hospital and out in the community. In this photo, Morgan and a client (not shown to protect patient privacy) talk while painting pictures.
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3:04 p.m. – Friday, November 4, 2011
Not all volunteers are people. Pictured here is George, a Labrador-Poodle mix, outside of the East Coast Forensic Psychiatric Hospital, in Burnside. George, along with owners Christine Wood, an employee of Capital Health, and her husband Ken Wood, are part of the Therapy Dog Program, which provides patients at the facility with the opportunity to visit with a “pet.”Francis Cashin, a recreational therapy assistant at the facility, says the dogs help improve the quality of life of patients, providing more animation on the inpatient units and generally “brightening the client’s day.” To qualify for the Therapy Dog Program, a dog must first be trained and certified through a program with the St. John Ambulance.
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12:37 p.m. – Monday, November 7, 2011
Karen Wang, a volunteer for the past 5 months, provides meal assistance to a Veteran at the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Building. She is one of 1,800 volunteers who share their talents and time each week throughout Capital Health.
There are as many people who volunteer at Capital Health as there are that live in the towns of Middleton (1,829) or Shelburne (1,879), and more than the communities of Oxford (1,178), Bridgetown (972) and Canso (911). (Population data source: Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations.)
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12:46 p.m. – Monday, November 7, 2011
Hanjoo Lee has been a volunteer for three years, supporting an exercise group in Capital Health’s Mental Health Program, as a hospitality volunteer in the Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre in Halifax, and for the past two years as a meal assistant. Prospective volunteers are asked to commit to a minimum of 6 months, for a few hours each week.
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10:09 a.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
David Holding has been a volunteer at the Cobequid Community Health Centre for the past five years as an Assistant to the Public in Diagnostic Imaging. Volunteers in this program provide hospitality services to patients upon arrival in the Diagnostic Imaging department, ensuring patients gown properly and providing assistance to them while they wait to be seen by a technologist.
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10:13 a.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The most visible volunteers at Capital Health are the Ambassadors, with their signature red vests. Marg Keefe, an Ambassador for the past three years at Cobequid Community Health Centre, acts as a friendly host in welcoming patients, families and other visitors as they enter the facility. Ambassadors offer assistance with finding locations and will accompany people to the appropriate floor, clinic or room, providing friendly support along the way.
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2:33 p.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Musical entertainment is one of the more unique volunteer opportunities at Capital Health. Alastair MacDonald (left) and Bruce Stewart (right) have both been entertaining Veterans and their friends and families at the Veterans’ Pub, located within the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Building, since 2002.
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3:20 p.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
In this photo, Elizabeth McDougall-Salcher greets a client of the Adult Day Hospital, located within the Camp Hill Veterans’ Memorial Building. As a volunteer with Capital Health’s Hospitality Program, she provides a warm and welcoming environment by greeting clients, providing them with refreshments and conversation while they wait for their appointment and keeping the space tidy. When asked what she does best as a volunteer, she smiles warmly, laughs and says “Talk!”
Like Elizabeth, many of Capital Health’s volunteers have provided more than a decade of service, and a few with more than 30 years.
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5:46 p.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Maria Boutilier, an employee of Capital Health and a professional artist for the past 20 years, recently began volunteering with an out-patient art group at the Abbie J. Lane building. The art program, funded through a grant from the Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia that pays for the art supplies, is designed for patients in the community who are living with a mental illness. The program, offered in a comfortable and safe environment, allows the clients to use various media to create art for self-expression, contributing to their overall wellness.
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6:12 p.m. – Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Agnieszka Kubow has been a volunteer at the Nova Scotia Rehabilitation Centre for the past three years. Volunteers in the “Recreation at Rehab” program assist patients with one-to-one and group activities, as part of the rehabilitation process using leisure as a means of achieving specified goals.
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10:19 a.m. – Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Louise Doherty, a hair dresser and volunteer at the Sunshine Room for the past two years, meets with a patient to discuss a head wrap. The Sunshine Room, located at the Victoria General Site of the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a supportive area where people undergoing cancer treatment can be introduced to complementary therapy, wigs
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10:40 a.m. – Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Yoga instructors Angie Fenwick Gibb (left) and Maureen Nowlan (right) provide free yoga classes to patients at the Sunshine Room. Both volunteer at least once a week, providing classes to up to 10 patients at a time.
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12:58 p.m. – Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Many Capital Health employees volunteer their time, not only to programs and services within Capital Health, but also in the community. Murray Doucette, Capital Health’s Director of Wellness and Safety, is the organization’s workplace lead for the 2011-12 United Way campaign.
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2:09 p.m. – Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Helen Blake has been volunteering with Capital Health’s Palliative Care Program since 2001. Starting in 2008, she has also been a Hospitality Volunteer in the Charles V. Keating Emergency and Trauma Centre, located at the QEII Health Sciences Centre, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Volunteers in the emergency department greet patients and their families upon arrival, and direct them to the appropriate area of the department.
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4:10 p.m. - Thursday, November 10, 2011
Capital Health’s Board of Directors is made up of volunteer members, appointed either by the Minister of Health and Wellness or through a nomination process by the district’s Community Health Boards. Pictured, front top left to right, are: John McCarthy (Board Development Officer); Darlene MacLaren (Board member since 2010); Dr. Dan O’Brien (Chair of the Board of Directors, appointed in 2010); Shannon MacDonald (Board member since 2009); Chris Power (President and CEO); and Gwen Haliburton (Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors and member since 2009).
For more information about becoming a volunteer member of Capital Health’s Board of Directors, visit our recruitment page.
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9:35 a.m. – Thursday, November 3, 2011
In this photo, Auburn Drive High School grade 11 student Andrew MacDonald volunteers in the pharmacy at the Dartmouth General Hospital, as part of the high school co-operative education volunteer program.