Visiting the hospital can be a stressful and scary time for some, but a local volunteer hopes he can maybe make their time there a little bit better.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood, we sat down with Jim Dobson, who has worked for the past 10 years as a volunteer in the emergency department (ED) at Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH).
Q: What made you choose to volunteer with CGMH?
A: I’d been up here for a few years and I was trying to find something to give back into the community. One of my friends who I play golf with is a volunteer and told me about all the great experiences he was having, so I went and had an interview with Sadie (Nixon, volunteer co-ordinator at CGMH) and started volunteering.
Q: You volunteer in the ED. Did you get to choose which department you volunteer in?
A: It was suggested to me to volunteer in that department. My friend was there and he explained what he was doing and I thought, “OK, I like that idea.”
Q: What was your background before this?
A: I’m a retired Bell Canada field manager. I came up here to the area back in the ’80s to learn how to ski and I just fell in love with it. I knew that when I retired, this is where I wanted to be.
Q: What are your favourite parts of volunteering with CGMH?
A: Just the interaction with people, and you’re able to help people. One of the most interesting things that I’ve found is ... years ago, I was a patient, and someone gave me a warm blanket. It just made everything so wonderful. So now, that’s one of the things that I try to do as much as I can. When I’m in the ED, I get blankets, I might get a visitor a chair, take the linens, clean and sanitize the beds, tables and make up the beds again for new patients coming in. Sometimes you have to do it very quickly because of the influx of more and more patients.
Q: What are some of the more difficult parts of volunteering with CGMH?
A: I don’t find anything too difficult.
Q: Could you take me through your average day volunteering at the ED?
A: First thing, we sign in. Then I'll go around and check for linens. Stock a few shelves. Pick up some testing bags. I try to stay busy, and out of the doctors’ and nurses’ way. Sometimes I’ll do menial tasks for them, too, like running an errand or a patient down to visual imaging. That doesn’t happen very often, but sometimes.
Q: You also participate in a fifth-grade education program. What does that entail?
A: It’s the Race Against Drugs program. It’s just a wonderful program where they bring literally busloads of Grade 5 students to the Collingwood Curling Club. There’s 11 different stations they go through to bring awareness of drugs, drinking and safety. I get an email about it every year and I block off a day (to participate). It’s rewarding. That’s why I keep doing it.
Q: Why did you choose to participate in that program?
A: Somebody told me about it, and they needed some help. That was it.
Q: Do you have any goals for the future with CGMH?
A: I’ve been there for 10 years now. I’m a retired Bell Canada person, and there’s two other Bell Canada retirees, plus we’ve just added a fourth. We have a team where we can apply to Bell Canada through their volunteer program to get a donation to the hospital based on the number of volunteer hours we put in as a group. I've been kind of spearheading this through the foundation. We’ve just completed our 10th year of that program. Thank you, Bell Canada! We have brought $25,000 to the hospital through that program over 10 years. That, to me, has been one of my major goals, and to continue it. When I finish my volunteering at the hospital – whenever that may be – I hope the other people will try to keep it going.
Q: Is there anything else you want people in Collingwood to know about you?
A: Well, I do other stuff.
Q: What kinds of other stuff?
A: Well, just over a year ago, I sold my house and moved into town. I was looking for a place to put all this (extra) stuff, like gardening stuff, tools ... I was considering doing a yard sale and my daughter said, “Dad, that’s too much work.”
So, I thought about it, and thought, 'There’s gotta be a better solution to this'
A friend of mine suggested, "Why don’t you go to Habitat for Humanity?"
I said, “Oh, OK. Where are they?” (laughs)
I filled up the back of my car with all this stuff and drove to Habitat for Humanity. The assistant manager helped go through my truck and told me what they could take and what they couldn’t.
Long story short: That’s where I’ll be this afternoon. I also volunteer now with the Habitat for Humanity South Georgian Bay ReStore on Thursday afternoons. It really opened my eyes to another thing that I can do. It’s a great cause.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
