The program is designed for students looking for an opportunity to partner with healthcare professionals.

The Victoria Hospital formally launched a Volunteer for Healthcare Program designed for students looking for an opportunity to partner with healthcare professionals.

Volunteer positions are available in selected departments at the hospital, each with the goal of engaging and motivating the volunteer, while improving the patient and family experience.

Assistant Director of Human Resources, Elena Plummer, said although the hospital has been open to volunteers, management saw the need for a proper structure that would benefit both the hospital and the volunteer.

“We’re hoping to achieve several objectives with the Volunteer for Healthcare Program. One, we want to provide volunteers with meaningful work experience and the opportunity to develop new skills. Two, we want to motivate the volunteers, which is why our focus is on young people although all are welcomed. Three, we want to assist interested persons in fulfilling their career goals.”

Danielle Gordon is a former volunteer at the Ezra Long Laboratory. She has a degree in Biochemistry with a minor in Biology, and a specialty in Microsoft Office’s Word, Access and Excel. She was instrumental in creating a database for postmortems in Saint Lucia and also assisted in developing the inventory structure for the blood bank and the Ezra Long Laboratory.

“I think we should always give back. Although I went away to school, I came back to give back, and that's why I opted to volunteer at the Ezra Long Laboratory. I also volunteered with the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force where I did the exhibits submission database for them, where we have the storage of exhibits being tracked. It's always important to give back."

Senior Pharmacist at the Victoria Hospital, Abraham Weeks, is part to the management team that helped create the structure for the volunteer program.

"This initiative was led by our Executive Director, Jeanette Hughes. There is a need for human resources. We want to create professionals who care about people and who care about the delivery of healthcare. So the program is structured in such as way to expose young persons to many aspects of healthcare delivery, professionalism, and work ethics.

The Volunteer for Healthcare Program was officially launched on Sep. 6.