Choose to Make A Difference – Choose to Make Cancer History

Positions With Direct Patient Care  |  Positions Without Patient Contact 

Hours:

Daytime:  Monday through Friday - 7:30 am to 5:00 pm

Some Evenings:  Monday through Friday - 5:00 to 8:30 pm

Positions With Direct Patient Care 

A-Team (daytime)
Volunteers assist in various positions throughout the Institute as needed. Tasks may include answering phones, data entry, copying, and being cross-trained to fill in for other essential jobs. Good verbal and written skills in English required. Good organizational and telephone skills. Understand and follow directions. Work effectively with others maintaining confidentiality and compassion.

Book Cart (day& evening)
Volunteers visit with patients on hospital floors and clinic areas providing reading material. Books are donated. Unclaimed subscription magazines are picked up from the Main Post Office by a partnering non-profit agency working with mentally challenged adults. The adults place stickers over the addresses and bring them to the hospital on Thursdays. On Mondays, volunteers sort them and distribute them to all waiting areas and remove old magazines. Then cart is ready for visits to patients. Good communication skills are needed and ability to walk extensively.

Coffee Cart (day)
Volunteers have an opportunity to visit with patients and family making their waiting time in the clinical areas easier. With a partner, the volunteer stocks the necessary essentials on the cart and travels from clinic to clinic and waiting areas to offer beverages and snacks to patients and visitors. When the shift is completed, the volunteer returns the cart to the kitchen and readies the essentials for the next volunteer. The volunteer must be self-motivated, have a congenial personality, good communication skills, patience and ability walk with the cart.

Craft Cart (day)
Volunteer prepares the craft cart with arts & crafts provided by the Patient Advocacy Department. The variety of crafts provide patients/family members inside and outside the clinical waiting areas of the hospital offers some pleasant diversions to pass the time as well as allowing a friendly visit to lend support and hospitality. The volunteer must be dependable, update the inventory and be able to walk with the cart in a friendly and helpful manner.

Errand/Escort – Helping Hands- (morning until late afternoon)
Volunteers assist staff/departments by completing errands and escorting/transporting appropriate patients according to policies & procedures. Tasks may include answering phones to assign tasks, mailings, assembling packets, taking medical records from one area to another, etc. Volunteers must have good communication skills in English, ability to walk distances. A seasoned volunteer acts as a mentor for new volunteers.

Friendly Visitors in Clinic Areas (day & late afternoon)
Friendly Visitors in the clinic areas work in the outpatient multidisciplinary centers. Patients are not hospitalized, but visit specific clinic centers for diagnosis, treatment or check-ups. The centers often become crowded and long waits become unavoidable. Volunteers in these areas help things run smoothly by assisting patients and directing patients to patient rooms and simply anticipating the patients’ needs. Volunteers must have good customer service skills, and be self-motivated. Daytime and afternoon clinic friendly visitors are available in the following centers:

• Breast Center (day only)
• Chemo-Infusion Center (day and evening)
• Dermatology/Sarcoma & Melanoma Center (day only)
• Gastrointestinal Center (GI/GU) (day only)
• Gynecology Center (day only)
• Head, Neck & Dental Center (day only)
• Hematology Center (day only)
• Neuro-Oncology Center (day only)
• Pain Management Center (day only)
• Blood Donor Center
• Thoracic Center (day only)
• Urology (day only)

Friendly Visitor in Nursing Units (day/evening/weekend)
Volunteers are assigned to a hospital floor and visit with patients and their families. Volunteers are able to read or write for patients, serve water and give some aid to nursing staff. Some walking required and good communication skills require

Extra training required for Pediatric Unit.

Gift Shop (daytime and weekends)
Volunteers provide assistance in a busy retail and sundries shop. Responsibilities include assisting customers, cashiering, providing information about the store’s stock and assisting with inventory, stocking and marking goods, straightening, dusting, vacuuming, etc. Volunteers receive training and are required to have excellent customer service skills in addition to compassion and patience. Proceeds from sales support the Institute.

Hospitality Room (day)
Volunteers staff the Hospitality Room (Provided by the Alliance Foundation of RPCI). The Hospitality Room provides an informal and relaxed environment where volunteers provide the volunteers beverages and snacks to patients, families and drivers (from other agencies). In addition, the volunteers are able lend an ear and share life experiences, if needed. The volunteer must have patience, empathy and good communication skills. This job can be done with a partner.

Information Desk (day)
For volunteers who like to meet and greet the public, staffing the Volunteer Information desk is ideal. These volunteers greet and direct in-patients, families, and visitors; answer telephones, receive floral arrangements and give outpatient information; directions, stamp parking tickets, and other information as required. The volunteer must have good communication skills, be self-motivated, and able to maintain a pleasant demeanor at all times. Some computer skills are required. Two people are required for each shift.

Nursing Unit Volunteer – (daytime and evening)
Volunteers assist the nursing staff by performing a variety of tasks for staff and patients including running errands, transporting patients and paperwork. Must be extroverted, mature, able to work with others, positive, compassionate, and follow directions.

Pastoral Care Volunteer Visitor (day, evening and weekend)
Volunteers assist the Chaplaincy department by visiting patients to provide an awareness of the chaplains of all denominations. They are able to relay information, make follow-up visits and be a spiritual comfort to both in-patients and outpatients. The volunteer needs excellent communication skills and understanding of appropriate spiritual guidance. Extra training required.

Pastoral Care -Chaplain (day, evening and weekends)
Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and other denominations are visited by clergy and assisted by volunteers for Mass, and other religious services. Volunteer brings the Eucharist to Roman Catholic patients and families under the direction of the department of pastoral care. Approved training required. Requires mature, excellent communication abilities and confidentiality.

Pediatric & Young Adults (very limited opportunities in all pediatric areas)

• Children’s Art Projects – Volunteers work with pediatric patients and siblings to design cards and products sold by the Development Department. All proceeds from the sales of these products are used to benefit the Institute.
• Playrooms – (day/evening/weekend) – Volunteers assist the Child Life Department with play opportunities in both inpatient and outpatient playrooms. Volunteers must have some experience with children and understand their development stages for placement in this program or have some training. Volunteers will also need to bend, sit on the floor, walk extensively and possibly hold children. Patience and energy is required.

Pastoral Care Visitor (day and evening)
Volunteer ministers to the spiritual needs of patients and families under the direction of the director of Pastoral Care. Demonstrates good verbal and listening communication skills, extroverted, mature, compassionate, maintain confidentiality. Completion of an interfaith course required.

Pet Therapy Program (day)
The program has a certified dog with his volunteer owner to provide a type of companionship, emotional, physical benefits to patients/families/staff. Questions are asked, talking and petting the dog provides a source of comfort in the clinical waiting areas. The volunteer and the dog need to interact well with patients, families and visitors.

Registration Assistant Volunteer (daytime)
Volunteer assists staff in the department that coordinates admissions to the hospital. Tasks may include answering phones, greeting and directing patients, filing, copying, shredding confidential information, assembling packets and other tasks as directed.

An extroverted, mature, compassionate, patient person needed who demonstrates good listening, verbal and written skills.

Shuttle Drivers (daytime)
Volunteers will supplement the shuttle service for patients, visitors and employees under the Institute's security umbrella.  volunteers will provide transportation to and from on street parking and surrounding neighborhoods.  The driver's Institute vehicle will be stationed in the Radiology parking area and the volunteer will act as a "greeter" for patients using the radiation entrance.  Volunteers will need good verbal skills in English, friendly personality, be polite and patient, maintain confidentiality and be dependable and reliable as relates to scheduling and working with others.

Surgical/Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Waiting Area (day, evening)
Volunteers maintain a comfortable, warm environment for family members and friends while patients are in surgery or the ICU. Volunteers visit with family members in the waiting area and offer beverages and other items to make them comfortable. Volunteers communicate information between patient’s family members, nurse/physicians regarding the status of the patient. Strong customer service, communication skills, complete awareness of confidentiality and compassion is required to volunteer.

Yellow Jackets
This is a group of volunteers who bring the resources of the Community Cancer Resource Center out to patients and family members. They visit the lobby and waiting areas of the hospital with an “information cart” containing cancer patient education, support services available and local points of interest or lodging. They also can help answer questions, direct patients to their next appointment and offer personalized support and care.
 

Positions Without Patient Contact

Diagnostic Radiology – Film Room (day and evening)
Volunteers are given training to help file and organize patient’s diagnostic radiology -- X-Rays; MRIs; CatScans; PetSans; etc.

Gilda Radner – Ovarian Cancer Registry (day)
Volunteers assist the staff with data-entry, filing, projects and special events.

Special Assignments (daytime, evenings, some weekends)
Volunteer Services arranges special projects and assignments for the Institute and administrative projects as needed. This is an opportunity for very specific areas including the Blood Bank, Development Office, Human Resources, Nutrition and Food, Pain and other Research Groups, and the Public Affairs to utilize volunteers for media purposes.

Development (daytime, evening and weekends)
Volunteers are asked to assist in fund-raising activities including: art projects designing cards and other objects to sell in malls and other facilities; assisting in clerical or operational tasks; assisting at events with registration and other needs.

These are seasonal.  Volunteers must be self-motivated; experience varies with each event or activity.

• Paint-Box Project
• Carly’s Club
• Team Cures
• Black Tie Event

Various Offices throughout the Institute (day)
Volunteers are needed to help with clerical activities including answering phones, filing, data entry, etc. The departments include: Development; Medical Records; Public Affairs; Clinics; Off-site medical offices; Call Center; etc. Office skills and professional demeanor required.

Volunteer Staff Support (day)
Volunteers assist the volunteer department staff with the operations of the volunteer Services. Duties include answering phones, inputting hours and data entry, filing and other duties as required.

Witness Project (day, evenings, weekends)
Outreach – offsite. Volunteers work in a community effort to help minority neighborhoods understand the need for regular medical exams, how to receive care when a cancer diagnosis occurs and follow-up with appointments and treatment.