Inspirational, supportive and inventive

Jordann Rowley is the Volunteer Coordinator at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board and joined the Patient Experience team in November 2021. In her role as volunteer coordinator, she is one of the first people volunteers come in contact with and connect with. As a dedicated, inventive and supportive member of staff, one of her remits is managing the Ward Befriender programme, which is vital for patients’ health and wellbeing.

To ensure volunteers in this role are supported and flourish she has designed and organised a variety of workshop and peer support sessions. These new online sessions have proved exceptionally popular and vital for the health and wellbeing of the volunteers, enabling them to develop in their roles. Guest speakers have enabled discussions around a variety of topics relevant to the areas volunteers are engaging in.

Jordann also leads discussions with the volunteers on coping with certain situations, ideas to engage patients, and provides additional signposting to support the volunteers in their role and personally. Combining her ability to engage with the volunteers, professionalism and affinity with clinical staff and her personal experience of patient interaction in care homes, Jordann undertook the mammoth task of fundraising to obtain a 43-inch interactive touch table to be used by our volunteers and staff with the patients.

Engaging with the Health Boards Health Charity she successfully obtained support funding, and undertook numerous sponsored walks and bike rides. Her dedication resulted in the Patient Experience team's first large-scale interactive touch table, which facilitates games sessions, calls to patients’ families and friends, and group work, and is an invaluable engagement device for patients, staff and volunteers to use.

Jordann’s dedication and enthusiasm to develop new areas of volunteer engagement has also resulted in the Patient Experience teams first Youth Summer Project. She recognised the importance of giving 16 - 25 years olds the chance to volunteer within the health care settings in a variety of ways. Having engaged with various clinical staff including wards, she contacted local schools and colleges to see if they would be interested in participating (which they were). She designed publicity material, the programme itself by establishing what roles would be most useful and manageable for the young volunteers to undertake, organised interviews, and established the successful candidates within the volunteer team.

She has ensured they are supported throughout their volunteering journey with online and in person support sessions, in-person tailored training such as dementia awareness, and engagement opportunities with a variety of professional clinicians and support staff to provide as rounded and diverse experience for these volunteers as possible. The success of this project, and all of Jordann's engagement with the volunteers is evident in their excitement and newly developed dedication to help patients in their different roles, and an enthusiasm to return and continue as volunteers with the team.

Jordann continues to provide inspiration, support and inventiveness with her connection and engagement with all the volunteers and their role within the Health Board and Patient Experience Team.

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