How to volunteer
Volunteers are welcome in many of the health and well-being organisations around the district and you are welcome to contact them directly.
How to volunteer
Volunteers are welcome in many of the health and well-being organisations around the district and you are welcome to contact them directly. You can also find out about opportunities to help through Volunteering Otago. Te Whatu Ora Southern hospital volunteers are coordinated by St John, and we appreciate them enormously!
Southland Hospital Volunteers
Whether staffing the gift shop, refreshing flowers on the wards or taking the gift shop trolley around to sell snacks, newspapers and magazines, the Southland Hospital Volunteers (aka the Pink Ladies) have been an indispensable part of the health care services in Southland since they started out some 35 years ago.
Volunteers Robyn Wilson and Jeanette Fletcher say they love being volunteers.
“Volunteering means you are helping out, you get to meet new people and it gets you out and about,” Jeanette says.
All money raised by the charitable trust goes back to the hospital or the hospice.
Want to join their ranks? Contact Lynley Kelland to find out how you can help.
Lakes District Hospital
At Lakes District Hospital there’s a core group of volunteers who are real “friends” and help people in their time of need.
Shona Blair, a former nurse, is the team leader for the St John programme Hospital Friends in Queenstown.
Starting back in 2016 with four volunteers, today there are 13 volunteers (including Shona) and they work in the emergency department, wards and also in maternity.
Their role is to help people in their time of need, and that can be sitting with patients, offering them a cup of tea, and having a chat.
“Volunteering is really about helping people,” Shona says.
Connect with others and help those in their time in need.