In Surgical Waiting Rooms and Intensive Care Units, Volunteers Ease the Pain of Waiting

Doris Seibold helps a visitor at the surgical waiting room find information about a hospitalized relative.

Written by Jessica Bernstein, Redcross.org

Going in for surgery can be a bewildering experience for a patient and for friends and family members who await news of their loved one's condition. But patients going in for surgery at two hospitals in Corpus Christi, Texas receive a pleasant surprise in the form of Red Cross volunteers. Trained volunteers from the American Red Cross Coastal-Bend Texas Chapter establish and maintain a communications link between medical staff and family members or friends who accompany surgery patients to the hospital.

The cadre of 13 women includes many who have been volunteering with this program for more than ten years -- some for as long as 30 years. The program began in 1942 as the Gray Ladies hospital volunteers and has been evolving ever since. On average, it serves 43,000 people each year.

Ten hour days are not unusual for these hospital volunteers, each of whom is assigned to cover one or two days per week. Responsibilities include everything from comforting concerned relatives to locating patients throughout the hospital and passing along information about their condition and status to relatives. The volunteers are equipped with desktop computers to locate patients who are in surgery or already in hospital rooms, and portable phones that doctors and nurses call to provide information about patients who are out of surgery. Volunteers also communicate with friends and family of people who are in the intensive care unit.

Red Cross staff work with volunteer programs on a daily basis never dreaming they too could be the recipient of one of the services. Last year, Shelley Parks, a staff member with the Coastal Bend-Texas Chapter, had surgery. She describes how the hospital program helped her and her family during this time. "Doris Seibold, the head volunteer of the Surgery Waiting Room at Christus Spohn Shoreline Hospital, was working the morning I went in. She made rounds to all the prep rooms before patients underwent surgery, easing our fears, and talking to family members and friends who were waiting with us. By talking to family members, she made the first contact, and established herself as someone they could come to for information.

When I was in the general recovery room, Doris came by and made sure that I was doing all right, then went straight out to the waiting room and informed my family that she had seen me and I was recovering well. She had already received notice from the doctor, which she had passed along to my family, that he had completed the surgery, and that I was doing fine.

When they wheeled me into the private recovery room, I was comforted to see that my family was already there waiting for me. They commented on the fact that it was nice not to have to wait an extra hour or two after the surgery was completed before knowing my condition. By giving my family updates on my condition throughout the procedure, Doris made them more comfortable and eased their fears.

Before my surgery, I knew of the Red Cross program and had spoken with many of the volunteers on various occasions. Having the opportunity to experience the program first hand as someone going through an operation helped me to understand just how much these volunteers mean to a patient or family member."

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