National Volunteer Week (NVW) is Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteers. From Monday 17th to Sunday 23rd May 2021, NVW will celebrate the significant contribution of Australia’s almost six million volunteers who selflessly dedicate over 600 million hours to help others each year.

Today we meet volunteer Lyn who has been volunteering two days a week at Mater for the past six years, one day in the endoscopy unit and the other as a driver providing an incredibly important service to patients who have no means of getting themselves to and from their hospital appointments.

“Since I retired I was looking for something to do to keep myself active and also find a way of giving back, I used to be a Human Resources Director so I consider myself to be a people person so Mater felt like a really good fit for me,” Lyn said.

“I love having contact with patients, being able to talk to them and hear their stories. When I am in the endoscopy unit, I am helping doctors with charts, chatting to patients before their operations and directing people where to go.

“My other day is for driving, I receive a list of all the people I need to pick up and bring in for appointments, they are predominately older, unable to drive or may have a disability. I also see people who may not have access to a car or be able to afford parking or a taxi.”

Lyn said the work was very rewarding especially if she couldn’t pick up some of these patients, they would require an ambulance transfer.

“When I do pick up patients, some are chattier than others, some can open up about their lives and what’s going on with them. Others just want to talk about something else. You do get to build a rapport with your regular patients who you see all the time,” Lyn said.

“While on the job so many things come up that require problem solving, you may have a patient not be where they were supposed to be, I had one patient who completely shut down and was unable to communicate due to how nervous they were about coming to hospital, but I was able to get them out, I enjoy helping people in this way.

“Driving in an especially rewarding volunteering role if you like people, we have a lot of laughs on the road. I would encourage more people to give it a go, I get so much out of volunteering, It keeps you active and positive.”

To find out more about volunteering at Mater you can call 07 3163 8599, email volunteers@mater.org.au or visit https://www.mater.org.au/group/careers/volunteering for more information.