Jo in Scotland

J* wrote:
this is now a moot point as our Jo is home and back in the arms of her ever
so clever wee lad who is talking to her at only 8 weeks old and yes i am a
firm believer this is so.

however, as i recall from when i was born/raised in california (i presume
the same applys to the rest of the usa) that most, if not all, hospitals
there have 'candy stripers' who are volunteers who do things just like
taking msgs to a patient. only one person would need to click on 'print' on
their computer and had the paper to the candy striper to take to the patient
in their room. hardly a difficult thing to make one click and the job is
done.

these volunteers also exist here in NZ with our culture based essentially on
the UK where they also have volunteers who 'work' in their hospitals and
nursing homes.

when my mom got sick and ended up in a nursing home in the SF bay area back
in early 2001 it was a social worker there who found me and called me to
tell me what had happened. tho she was a paid worker, i think, there were
others there who were volunteers.

what i was attempting to do was get our msgs of love and support to one of
us across the globe and in a place where being able to read out msgs would
help her alot.
at no point was i intending to put the medical nursing staff in the loop.
i'm not a total idiot regardless of what some folks seem to think. i spent
two full weeks sleeping beside my Tim when he had meningitis and nearly died
back in 2001 (we were there when 9/11 happened as it turned out). so i know
something about both calif and nz hospital systems and the volunteers who
work there.

i'll go back into my cave now.
j.

You know, I'm thrilled that you wanted to send me a message of support.
That is so kind, and I'm touched. To think that someone over in New
Zealand was thinking of me! That is incredible, in a way. We are so
lucky that we can form friendships with people who are physically
thousands of miles away. What would our quilting grandmothers and
greatgrandmothers have thought of that? Often when they made "album
quilts" with signature patches, their friends were moving away, never to
be seen or heard from again. The internet would have astounded them.

I think Jeanne was very thoughtful to remember these "candy stripers"
which I have never seen, but I'm sure that those kind of volunteers must
exist in hospitals in different parts of the country, and in different
countries.

Thank you for your kindness and telling us about these volunteers.
Perhaps when I'm stronger, I could try that sort of volunteering. (I
have done many different kinds of volunteer work over the years, but not
that one yet!)


-- Jo in Scotland


The lad is out for a walk beside the sea with Grandma while I put a
border on a I-spy quilt for a friend's baby. It was supposed to be for
the baby's arrival.. then first Christmas..... then first birthday.....
aaaargh! You get the picture. I want to finish it while Grandma is
here as Chief Entertainment Officer.

J* wrote:
thank you for that info, Carole.
it confirms my thoughtts on how we could get msgs to our Jo and/or Nel
without bothering the medical staff at all. if memory serves me the
volunteers are called candystripers because of the pink/white striped
uniforms they wear when volunteering.
we have them here too and i'm fairly sure also in the UK.

They don't call them candystripers in the UK, but there are many
different charities that have a presence in hospitals, national and
local. If you entered our local hospital at the main outpatients
entrance there were always volunteers to help you find your way to the
right clinic, they were usually older men for some reason, so yes, there
are definitely volunteer things happening in UK hospitals.

Cheers
Anne

When I was growing up we had "Gray Ladies" they were red cross
volunteers in the hospitals, wore gray pinafore type aprons. "Candy
Stripers" were like junior gray ladies, worked after school, their
pinafore type aprons were made of red and white stripes.

I haven't seen anything like them for some time, liability might be
the reason.

Bonnie, in Middletown, VA



On Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:21:27 -0700, Anne Rogers
wrote:

J* wrote:
thank you for that info, Carole.
it confirms my thoughtts on how we could get msgs to our Jo and/or Nel
without bothering the medical staff at all. if memory serves me the
volunteers are called candystripers because of the pink/white striped
uniforms they wear when volunteering.
we have them here too and i'm fairly sure also in the UK.

They don't call them candystripers in the UK, but there are many
different charities that have a presence in hospitals, national and
local. If you entered our local hospital at the main outpatients
entrance there were always volunteers to help you find your way to the
right clinic, they were usually older men for some reason, so yes, there
are definitely volunteer things happening in UK hospitals.

Cheers
Anne

The old gals where pink aprons here. I always thought of them as the pink
ladies. They were really helpful when we were at the hospital last month.
My sis works in a hospital and seems to have a lot of nice stories about
the old helper folks. They are a big hearted crowd.
Taria