Gaynor Daniels began volunteering for Hospiscare in 2009 and currently holds three volunteer roles.
Gaynor says, “A friend of mine who lived in Exmouth was cared for by Hospiscare. After she died, I said to my husband Peter, let’s volunteer and I can honestly say it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.
“Originally, Peter and I were driving patients to and from appointments and then I became the co-ordinator for Honiton. I really enjoyed getting to know the patients.”
Sadly, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Hospiscare to stand down many volunteers and their roles. When it was safe to call our volunteers back into service, many new roles were created. One such role was transport support and Gaynor was one of the first volunteers to take up this post.
Gaynor explains, “It’s like being on-call – a member of the team from Hospiscare’s Clinical Co-ordination Centre will call to find out if I’m available. They will give me the details of the pharmacy and the patient’s address and I take a big envelope to the pharmacy to collect the medication and transport it to the patient.
“I travel all over as part of the role. Recently I was called out to Okehampton, which is quite far from where I live, but that doesn’t matter to me. If I’m available, I will always go. It’s so useful to Hospiscare because it saves the nurses from having to do it and means they can focus on their role – taking care of the patients and their families.
“I really enjoy my role and I’ve been able to get to know so many people, especially the volunteers near me in Honiton. I get a lot of satisfaction knowing that I’m helping patients, and also helping Hospiscare’s nurses. It’s the nurses who make all the difference.”
To find out about volunteering opportunities available at Hospiscare, please click here.
