Paulding WellStar Volunteer Program Growing with Hospital’s Expansion

WellStar Paulding Hospital’s Volunteer Program is growing as the complex in Hiram continues its expansion. With the opening of two additional floors later this year and increasing staff and services, support from dedicated volunteers becomes more important than ever.
According to Tammy Walker, manager, WellStar Paulding Volunteer Services and Tom Dawson, president-elect of the Auxiliary Organization, there are currently about 140 adult volunteers that work in everything from the hospital’s gift shop, emergency department, free information desk, on in-patient floors, and elsewhere.
“The minimum requirement is that they would work one day a week for four hours and a total of 100 hours,” Ms. Walker said. “We’re looking for long-term volunteers who have great customer-service skills.”
Walker said volunteers may work with patients, doctors and/or visitors to the hospital, and that volunteering opportunities are open to both men and women. The state-of-the-art facility in Hiram opened in April 2014, with 56 beds and 40 emergency exam rooms and an emergency department, cancer center, women’s imaging, surgical and other healthcare services. Two more patient floors are opening in the fall increasing the staff and adding to the services being offered, which will up the demand for volunteers, Walker said. President Mark Haney announced last June that the expansion of Paulding’s 265,000 square-foot hospital complex would move forward with two additional floors. The addition to the hospital came sooner than had been originally anticipated reflecting growth in the area.
Paulding’s population is expected to reach close to 240,000 in the next 15 years. As a non-profit organization WellStar is dependent on active volunteers to provide the man-hours, Dawson said. “We really truly have a need for compassionate people who are physically able to walk a lot,” Ms. Walker said.
Volunteers also work at WellStar’s 180-bed nursing and rehab facility in non-licensed tasks, she said. Dawson came to WellStar from a career in manufacturing and has always been fascinated with healthcare and how the hospital industry works, he said. Dawson and Walker contend that volunteer work brings with it its own reward on a day-by-day basis. “What I get back from the volunteers is that they’ve made a difference because they’ve made somebody else’s life a little better that day,” Walker said. “My children and my grandchildren were born in WellStar hospitals, so we look at that as very important. They’ve always been here when we needed them and this is the way to just get more involved with the surrounding community,” Dawson said. Fund raising is also a part of the picture, Walker said. “We do fund-raising through vendor sales every month and at the end of our fiscal year the money filters back through the foundation and ultimately comes back to Paulding,” she said.
Walker also conducts a summer program for high school students. Applications for this year’s student program were taken in January and February and this summer’s program is already full, she said.
“We have a program we do in the summer with 15-18 year-olds and they’re usually high-performing students that have an interest in health care, so it’s a great opportunity for them to explore before they get to college and they get volunteer hours, which looks good on their resume and application to college, especially if they’re pursuing careers in healthcare, they have hours in a medical setting,” she said.
For additional information regarding the adult program, contact the volunteer services department at 470-644-7108 or go to the volunteer link at WellStar.org and apply to the location interested in.

Tammy Walker, manager, WellStar Paulding Volunteer Services and Tom Dawson, president-elect of the Auxiliary Organization currently work with about 140 adult volunteers that assist with everything from the hospital’s gift shop, emergency department, free information desk, on in-patient floors, and elsewhere. (Photo: R. Grant)