National Volunteer Week from June 21 to June 27, 2020
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Auckland, June 19, 2020
For almost two decades, patients in the emergency department at Middlemore Hospital in Auckland have had the support of volunteers to provide comfort and support to them and their families.
Thanks to dedicated people like Ravee Patel, St John Friends of the Emergency Department (FED) volunteers have made the often-daunting experience of waiting in a hospital emergency department more comfortable.
You will find Mr Patel at Middlemore Hospital on a Wednesday evening, supporting the nurses, fetching warm blankets, delivering meals, making cups of tea, and listening and talking with patients. He is one of more than 850 St John FEDs and Hospital Friends (volunteers in smaller hospitals with no ED) in 27 hospitals across New Zealand.
Giving back to the community was his motivation for signing up.
Painful experience
“My father was in hospital for heart surgery and I had cellulitis in my legs and ended up in the Emergency Department at Auckland Hospital. I was drugged up on pain killers at the time when a FED stopped by and talked to me. I was not in the mood for chatting, but they spoke with my parents. When I recovered, I wanted to do something to give back,” he recalls.
During the past six years of volunteering as a St John FED, Ravee Patel has not only overcome a childhood fear of going to hospital, he is gained the satisfaction of meeting people he would not usually come across and putting a smile on people’s faces.
“Everyone keeps saying we do a really marvellous job and it is so good to be in a place where we can be there to talk to people, especially elderly people, who are often alone and waiting for a long time, and wanting someone to talk to,” Mr Patel said.
Unforgettable moments
Volunteering has also come with many unforgettable moments that are embedded in his memory.
“There was one time when a visitor came to Auckland from Brisbane and had a bad fall on the plane. She ended up in Middlemore Hospital with nothing, no luggage, no change of clothing, no phone. She told us at ED that she needed to contact her family, but she did not have their numbers. We managed to get hold of her daughter so she could let her family know what happened. She was over the Moon. It gave us a sense of fulfilment to have been there to help,” Mr Patel said.
According to him, it is occasions like these that make volunteering as a FED rewarding and something others can do in their spare time.
“It benefits the patients’ morale. When patients need attention, we are able to be there for them and it helps the hospital staff by relieving some of the pressure. I am always recommending others to volunteer, and I’ll carry on doing this as long as I can,” Mr Patel said.
National Volunteer Week
Ravee Patel is one of St John’s more than 8500 volunteers being honoured during National Volunteer Week (21-27 June 2020), which celebrates the contribution of all volunteers who enhance Aotearoa. St John estimates its volunteers contribute more than two million hours a year to New Zealand communities.
For more information about St John Friends of the Emergency Department and how to volunteer, visit join.stjohn.org.nz/volunteer-jobs.
