LINCOLN -- Washington Regional Medical Center in Fayetteville offers many opportunities for residents in the area to volunteer to help hospital staff, patients and their family members.
"We have volunteer opportunities that fit any schedule and any hours," said Jimmie Barham Beauchamp, director of volunteer services for the hospital. Beauchamp recently addressed Lincoln Area Kiwanis Club.
Beauchamp said people probably think volunteers at the medical center are mainly from Fayetteville and mostly women. However, the fact is that volunteers come from all over the county, including Summers, Lincoln, Prairie Grove and Farmington, and men as well as women volunteer for the organization, she said.
Beauchamp's responsibilities include volunteer services, activities and programs for senior adults age 55 and older and overseeing the medical center's gift shop, which is run and operated by the auxiliary.
Volunteers are used in many areas at the hospital, including the information desk, gift shop, surgery waiting room, ICU and CCU waiting room, emergency department, center for exercise and ambulatory care unit greeter.
In the information center, volunteers welcome and greet visitors, provide directions for visitors and transfer outside phone calls to patient rooms. In the gift shop, volunteers perform retail duties. In the surgery and ICU/CCU waiting rooms, they serve as a liaison between staff, physicians and family. Other duties including greeting patients and visitors as they enter Walker Heart Institute, teaching new members how to use exercise equipment and greeting patients coming into the Emergency Department.
Volunteers are an important part of the medical center, Beauchamp said.
"Washington Regional volunteers know the joy of making a positive difference in others' lives," she said.
The medical center has an active program for senior adults, called 55PLUS, and this program offers health related services, wellness information, discounts and travel opportunities. Seminars are offered on topics such as arthritis, heart disease, nutrition and caring for an aging loved one. Membership is free and includes a quarterly newsletter, free coffee and tea in the medical center cafeteria, discount coupons to various area merchants and provides advance registration if members have to be admitted into the hospital.
For more information to volunteer or on the 55PLUS programs, go to www.wregional.com or call Beauchamp at 479-463-1085.
General News on 07/01/2015