A message from Kim Delahunt, President & CEO, Headwaters Health Care Centre
As we celebrate National Volunteer Week this year, the theme The Value of One, the Power of Many is so fitting. This has been a year like no other. In so many aspects of our lives, including our contributions to the community, we have had to come together in different ways to provide that support and connection.
At Headwaters we rely on the contributions of over 400 volunteers from across our community including our Headwaters Hospital Auxiliary; Patient and Family Advisory Partnership; Spiritual Care Chaplains; Telecheck Dufferin; The Friendship Gardens and members of the Hospital Board of Directors.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our in-hospital volunteer activities. Recently, we have had a few glimmers of hope. Just last month we began a pilot project to bring Spiritual Care volunteer chaplains back to E-Wing only. This has been met with much success and thanks by our patients and staff. The chaplains have had specific infection prevention protocol training and we are evaluating it day by day.
Our Friendship Gardens volunteers are hard at work preparing the gardens for the season. Buds and blooms are beginning to emerge. Seconds Count Thrift Shop in Orangeville re-opened for a short while with limited hours. We know from the long line-ups that were seen on Broadway just how popular the store is to the community. With the current stay-at-home order, they are closed again.
Telecheck Dufferin volunteers are busy supporting people 55 and over in our communities with wellness calls. In fact, they are actively recruiting additional volunteers to support their efforts.
I also want to thank the members of our hospital’s Board of Directors whose contributions and commitment to overseeing the hospital hasn’t wavered this year although they had to pivot to a new format for virtual meetings.
Headwaters and our broader community are certainly enriched as a result of the collective generosity and contributions from our volunteers. On behalf of our hospital, thank you for your contributions and for your continued connection with us. Thank you for choosing us as your place to give back. We hope, that in the not so distant future, we will see a safe return of our hospital volunteers and a resurgence of the other volunteer activities.
Please continue to take care of yourselves and one another.