If you are thinking of volunteering, I say do it
To mark Volunteers' Week on 1-7 June, we spoke to Mbemba Bojang, a voluntary services coordinator at Newham Hospital. Here, he describes how invaluable volunteers have been during the pandemic, despite some of the challenges they’ve faced.
I have been working for Barts Health for nearly a decade now, in various capacities – from logistics to nursing. In my current role, I work across sites and lead the peer support volunteering project for the Trust. This project aims to highlight to young people the importance of participating in community initiatives, and to show them the career opportunities in the NHS.
I am also one of three voluntary services coordinators at Barts Health, responsible for recruiting, training, placement, management, and pastoral care of the Barts Health volunteers. Specifically, I am the lead for voluntary services at Newham Hospital, a post I took up in July 2019. This means I am responsible for the day-to-day operational management of volunteers at the hospital, accountable to Nancy Whiskin, the head of voluntary services at the Trust.
We have over two hundred volunteers at Newham Hospital who form an active and vibrant team. During the pandemic, a huge number of them worked tirelessly to help improve patient experience and staff wellbeing. I’m so proud of them all.
One of the most significant achievements we had during the pandemic was successfully recruiting 50 Covid-19 Response Volunteers for Newham Hospital. These individuals delivered thousands of meals, goodies, and snacks to staff and patients at the hospital. They helped support and coordinate the ‘Wheels for Heroes’ Brompton Bike Scheme which over 300 Newham Hospital staff have signed up to and are benefiting from. And they helped families to deliver care packages, messages and personal items to patients on the ward, as visitors weren’t allowed due to infection prevention control measures.
In addition, we recruited around 300 vaccination support volunteers to the NHS Covid-19 vaccination centre, Newham which is based at ExCeL London, in the heart of the Borough of Newham. These individuals are playing a vital role in getting us all back to doing the things we love.
The biggest challenge we faced this year was that we had to step many of our volunteers down – namely, those who are under 18, over 70 and classed as clinically vulnerable – to keep them safe and due to infection prevention control measures. Therefore, apart from managing services in the hospital, we are also behind the scenes, supporting our these volunteers, many of whom were isolating due to the pandemic. Now, as restrictions ease, we are beginning to gradually bring these volunteers back across the Trust which is fantastic.
Despite some challenges, working with volunteers during the pandemic has genuinely been positive and refreshing. It has allowed us to work with people from many different, diverse backgrounds and it has significantly increased my faith in humanity. Volunteering is now recognised as a crucial element of service delivery and patient experience which is fantastic.
The volunteering team at Newham Hospital and across the Trust is the embodiment of the Barts Health We Care values. To anyone thinking of volunteering, I say do it. And do it at Barts Health NHS Trust – it’s the best place.
Read more:
- Volunteers' Week 2021 - A time to say thanks
- Volunteering: a way of paying it forwards
- Volunteer with us