Nothing is too much trouble for Elizabeth Gibbons
9th November 2020
Submitted by Eleanor Morris, Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust
Elizabeth joined the Trust to support our Clinical Volunteers programme (set up in March 2020) during the Covid 19 outbreak and pandemic. As a secondary school student in year 11, Elizabeth had time on her hands with her school closure, and wanted to help. It is a future dream of hers to become a paramedic. She explained in her application the reason why she wanted to volunteer: “I know the current situation is hard and tough and I know the NHS need all the help they can get at the moment” which we felt from a young person who while suddenly having their life changed very dramatically.
At the beginning, she supported our Rehabilitation hospital where she helped elderly patients or patients with cognitive conditions such as stroke or brain injury. After settling in the role quickly, she felt she could help more so we arranged for her to volunteer within
our acute hospital site on a stroke ward. All staff felt that Elizabeth’s help made such a huge positive difference to them and patients. She volunteers a staggering four to five days per week, often completing 12 hour shifts!
One of the outstanding things that Elizabeth has done on the ward is that she has gone out and purchased nail polishes from her own money and used these to run activities with patients painting their nails. The ward staff have been very humbled to see this and feel it has made an enormous difference to the quality of patient experience delivered. We feel this is truly an example of going the ’extra mile.’
Elizabeth has received her GCSE results, which will enable her to study further in health and social care which support her ambitions to become a paramedic. We hope the insights she has gained of hospital settings have prepared her for a career in health. She has also previously completed work experience in a care home. Elizabeth hopes to still continue her volunteering with us while picking up her studies again, which we are delighted to hear.
She is very enthusiastic, bubbly, friendly and shows maturity for her age. She gets on well with both patients and staff as well as making friends with other volunteers in her cohort of her own age and of older age groups.
We have received amazing feedback from the Matron at the rehabilitation hospital who states that Elizabeth and other volunteers have been invaluable during this extraordinary time. The assistance they have provided to the nursing and support services has been thankfully received by the teams. Elizabeth has become friends to patients and a valuable part of the team on both wards. Staff wanted to personally thank her and say they could not have survived the last few months without the volunteer support! - A truly remarkable testament.
Since she commenced in April 2020, Elizabeth has contributed an amazing 368 hours of volunteering, which is truly astounding, not missing attendance for one week in this time.
We truly appreciate Elizabeth’s contribution and feel confident she will do very well in whatever she turns her mind to.
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