{"id":5505,"date":"2016-07-09T08:00:05","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T22:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/?p=5505"},"modified":"2016-07-08T15:50:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-08T05:50:05","slug":"behind-the-scenes-volunteers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/behind-the-scenes-volunteers\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the Scenes: Volunteers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Good<\/a>
Volunteer Ashlee with patient Edie in the playroom. Photo: David Caird\/Herald Sun<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you visit the RCH you may see some \u2018pink angels\u2019 getting around.<\/p>\n

These angels are our volunteers who wear pink lanyards, and play a vital role in providing families respite, entertaining patients and assisting staff with administrative duties.<\/p>\n

We had a chat to Ashlee, who has been donating her time, skills and enthusiasm for two years.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, what do you do as a volunteer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI volunteer in the play room every Wednesday morning; it\u2019s where patients and their siblings come to play away from their hospital room. Activities include craft-making, drawing, solving puzzles or simply playing and chatting. I aim to keep the\u00a0kids amused and the families a little more relaxed.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you enjoy the most about volunteering?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing the kids happy is the best part. I\u2019m providing somewhere they can come and have fun to escape the usual hospital environment, which helps make the experience of being here more pleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u00a0has being a volunteer taught you? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe RCH is a sad but happy place – the challenge is to make the time you spend count in some way. It has opened my eyes to the\u00a0challenges and difficulties people face from day to day. A lot of families are doing it very tough, which makes\u00a0me appreciate the\u00a0good stuff and not sweat the small stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you find it rewarding? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding, particularly seeing patients who are going through a hard time, but still have a smile on their face. The kids\u00a0are so resilient and an inspiration. I also enjoy interacting with people from culturally diverse backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do you do with your time outside of the RCH? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI work part-time in retail, socialise with friends and family and work as a nanny. I also have a Certificate IV in Allied Health Assistance, a career which I wish to pursue one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In your eyes, what\u2019s the best thing about the RCH?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMost kids and their families don’t see it as a traditional hospital. Although being in hospital is a stressful experience, the kid-friendly environment at the RCH eases some of that stress.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to become a volunteer at the RCH, you can learn more here: http:\/\/www.rch.org.au\/volunteers\/Becoming_a_Volunteer\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashlee has been donating her time, skills and enthusiasm for two years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":5507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8971,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5505"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5508,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5505\/revisions\/5508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}