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| Volunteers Week: Jenny Values Playful Penny |
| Written by Communications Team |
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Penny Merritt has been volunteering for the Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital NHS Trust (ASPH) since March in the Oak Ward Play room, looking after children and supporting the Hospital Play Service Team. On an average day that she volunteers she distracts the little ones before an operation or procedure. Penny walks around the ward and tells the kids about the play room. If they can’t make it to the play room, she offers toys for them to play with in their bed.
Said Penny Merritt of Woking: ”I find it really satisfying knowing that I’m helping both the children and the staff. The team are so friendly and I get a great sense of self worth whenever I go in and volunteer. I’ve been a nursery nurse all my working life, so children are very important to me. The best thing about it is seeing the smile on children’s faces and knowing that I’ve made that difference; it gives me an amazing feeling.” Said Jenny Kirby, the Hospital Play Services Co-ordinator: “Volunteers are so important to us and the children and bring a different outlook to the day to day lives of the children. The support that each one of our volunteers provides is really beneficial to the team. As Penny is a qualified Nursery Nurse, she’s been around children all of her professional life, so she knows how to interact with them.”
Said the Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals volunteer’s manager Karen Marsden: “We have more than 500 volunteers working in our hospitals, and we cannot thank them enough for all that they do. Our volunteers have a huge variety of skills and talents that are put to good use every single day of the year – and some evenings too! Some work behind the scenes in offices and others enjoy the patient contact with ward work or reception duties – the scope for them is enormous.
There are very few aspects of hospital life that do not benefit from the support of a volunteer. The WRVS, the Red Cross, Hospital Radio Wey and the two Leagues of Friends at Ashford and St. Peter’s are the backbone of our volunteering service and at this special time of year we like to thank them all publicly for their unstinting support.”
To find out more about volunteering at the Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust readers can call Karen Marsden on either: 01784 884227 or: 01932 723239.
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