craigdailypress.com

High school students wishing to bolster their college resumes with community service should look to The Memorial Hospital, which is looking for volunteers to man the phones and greet customers in the evenings, said Pam Thompson, TMH's community relations director.

By Jan. 5, Thompson hopes to have the youth volunteer program fully operational. She's designing it to work with school schedules.

The work would include acting as a receptionist between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. But in addition to routing the hospital's telephone traffic, the volunteers will interact with patients and visitors as well.

Thompson envisions the position will be like a "concierge for the hospital."

The volunteers also will visit patients, serve drinks, hand out books and magazines or schedule massages, for instance.

But the hospital's front desk will be a priority.

"We really need someone who can focus on patients and families as they come in the door," Thompson said.

Thompson said a hiring freeze has left TMH shifting its employees to different areas of the hospital in an effort to be more efficient. Currently, the receptionists rotate to the emergency room to help the staff by registering patients.

The result has been that an automated phone service answers the phone in the receptionists' absence. And while most hospitals and companies use automated phone systems, Thompson said TMH wants to keep a live person on the end of the line.

"We want to remain customer friendly and have the personal touch we've had in the past," Thopmson said.

The hospital decided, as a solution, to see if students interested in healthcare or customer service would like to fill the position on a volunteer basis.

It's also a pilot program for what Thompson hopes will be an expanded range of volunteer opportunities at TMH. Eventually, students may get a chance to help out in other departments, such as the laboratory.

But first, Thompson decided to start with the customer service position and work out the bugs, including the confidentiality training that would be required to educate volunteers to work in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

"Because the HIPAA laws are so strict, we wanted to start out this way and see how it works," Thompson said. "Once it's shown to be successful, I know other departments would be open to using volunteers."

The volunteers will be a subgroup of the TMH Auxiliary, TMH's volunteer organization, which includes the "ladies in pink," who already volunteer thousands of hours for the hospital, Thompson said.

Applicants should be at least 16 years old. Interested students can contact Pam Thompson at 824-3109.

Jeremy Browning can be reached at 824-7031 or jbrowning@craigdailypress.com