A Heartfelt Thank You

The Goulart Family Thanks All LPCH Volunteers

If you have ever visited Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH), chances are you benefited from the work of one of more than 700 volunteers.  LPCH volunteers perform a variety of tasks,  from providing visitor information to playing games with patients to stocking treatment rooms. Just over the past year alone, these volunteers contributed 46,000 hours of their time.
 
To celebrate this exceptional commitment to LPCH, the hospital recently hosted its annual Volunteer Recognition Event.  According to LPCH president and CEO Chris Dawes, "The warmth and dedication our volunteers provide is just as important as the services delivered by our employees and medical staff.”
 

Are you interested in volunteering for LPCH?  Please visit the Volunteer section of LPCH.org to learn about all of our opportunities.  The next volunteer orientation will be on July 19th from 6-8:30 pm in the LPCH Auditorium.  Please call (650) 497-8696 to RSVP.

Mary Goulart, mother to LPCH patient Joshua, took the podium during this event to personally express how LPCH volunteers played such a vital role in her family’s life.  That’s because, during a prenatal visit, Mary and her husband, Tony, learned their baby-to-be had Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.  Immediately after he was born, baby Joshua underwent heart surgery and he and his family spent the next six weeks, twenty-four hours a day at LPCH.   
 
Mary, Tony, daughter Rachel and other family members were able to relocate for those six weeks in a house just ten minutes from the hospital, thanks to the Homes with a Heart program.  Homes with a Heart volunteers live near the hospital and open their spare rooms or guest cottages to LPCH families so parents can stay close to their children.  "The incredible family donating their house wanted nothing but to help families in need. This blessing was one of many to fall upon us during this most challenging time,“ said Tony Goulart.
 
Baby Joshua returned for a second procedure six months later.  He developed a severe infection, required additional surgery and was hospitalized for 52 days.  The Goularts tried to be with Joshua around the clock, but that proved to be difficult.  Tony had to return to work and Rachel was in school.
 
The Goularts then learned about the LPCH Cuddler volunteer program.  Cuddlers feed, bathe, change, hold and comfort neonatal infants.  The support of this volunteer team allowed the Goularts to tend to necessary life outside of the hospital when needed.  “It made all the difference in the world because we could find peace knowing that people were watching Joshua,” says Mary.
 
The Cuddler program is one of the most popular volunteer programs at LPCH, yet there are numerous opportunities available in direct patient contact, semi-direct patient contact, customer service, administrative support and special projects.  Volunteers can work with newborns, toddlers, children or adolescents. 
 
Many volunteers’ efforts extend past a child’s visit to LPCH.  Sock monkey dolls are given to patients and go home with the child.  Volunteers also run and coordinate the “Reach Out and Read” program, a national effort to promote literacy in the home.  “Reach Out and Read” volunteers read books to children while they wait for their clinic appointments.  The children also get to take a book home with them.  Children who complete all of their well-baby visits can receive up to 12 English or Spanish books from the program, free of charge.
 
Regardless of which program volunteers participate in, families like the Goularts sincerely appreciate each minute of time volunteers donate and every task they perform.  As Mary Goulart expressed to the attendees at the Volunteer Recognition event, “Every little thing you do makes a difference – it changed our world to know that you were there.”