Volunteer Spotlight: Susan Brown

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Name: Susan Brown

How long have you been a volunteer?
Almost five years.

What areas do you work in/what sort of tasks do you do as a volunteer?
Patient care in the Care Center, events, and children’s holiday workshops.

What made you decide to become a volunteer?
I wanted to give back to the community and I also have a friend who works here, [Home Care Clinical Supervisor] Laurie Comps. We’ve known each other for a very long time ─ since middle school. Just hearing about it I thought, this is something that I could do.

If I can make patients feel comfortable, and work with families, because families are upset…If they know the patient feels comfortable then they’re going to feel a lot calmer about the situation.

What is your favorite part about volunteering?
It’s very rewarding. If I feel like I’ve kind of lifted somebody’s day or made some of the families feel a little bit better, then to me, that is the best part of it.

What is one of your favorite stories or memories from volunteering?
There was a patient who I had been working with for a really long time and I ran into one of the family members and they thanked me. They said that I helped ease their mom’s fears. I spent a lot of time with her; she was here for months. So that was very nice of her. She sought me out, which I thought was really nice. It was a very “feel good” moment.

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