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Every day, the corps of volunteers at Monmouth Medical Center make important contributions to patient care and the operation of the hospital.
“Volunteers benefit from the knowledge that they have helped others,” says Louise Shivers, manager of Volunteer Services at Monmouth. She notes that at Monmouth, volunteer patient advocates play an important role by helping patients and their family members navigate the health system.
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Volunteer patient advocates like Beth Marrone are an important part of Monmouth Medical Center’s
patient satisfaction efforts as they provide
comfort and companionship to patients.
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"Our volunteer patient advocates understand that health care at Monmouth Medical Center truly is a team effort," she says. "They help make a difference in health care by giving of their time to help resolve issues or lending a helping hand to patients, family members or caregivers.”
Ambassadors for the medical center, volunteer patient advocates like Highlands resident Beth Marrone are an important part of patient satisfaction efforts as they provide comfort and companionship to patients.
Working in partnership with the hospital staff for the benefit of patients and their families, volunteer patient advocates also are enriched by relationships developed with patients and their families. In fact, often the primary role for the volunteer patient advocate is simply to serve as the patient's friend during his or her hospital stay.
Marrone, who lived and worked in New York City for more than 25 years was a product development executive in the cosmetic and fragrance industry before moving to New Jersey nearly six years ago, today works part-time as a consultant and volunteers as a patient advocate at Monmouth one day a week. It is work she said she finds very satisfying. In fact, Marrone received Monmouth Medical Center’s Clara Field Volunteer Award of Excellence in 2007 — an award she is very proud of.
“I consider myself to be very fortunate to finally have the time to be of service in helping others” she says. “Volunteering as a patient advocate is so rewarding — you meet such interesting people who have such amazing stories to tell. People are so grateful to have someone listen to their stories and make them feel important.”
She recalls one elderly patient who told her of her time as an executive with a big New York City advertising agency.
“I thought that was so amazing, because for a woman of that era to hold an executive position at a time when women had no place in business was just incredible,” she says.
As a volunteer patient advocate, Marrone visits patients weekly and helps with a host of non-medical requests — including answering questions about hospital and community services.
“I do everything I can to help,” she says. “There are a lot of people in the hospital who don’t have any family, and often they come in through the Emergency Department, and so they really weren’t prepared to be here. Sometimes a call to arrange for a pet sitter or let a neighbor know that someone is in the hospital really helps to alleviate some of their stress.
“My goal is always to make people feel comfortable and calm,” she adds. “Helping to make people feel they are being care about, as well as being cared for — that is such an important part of the team approach to creating a healing environment at Monmouth Medical Center.”
To learn more about the volunteer patient advocate program, or other volunteer opportunities at Monmouth, call 732-923-6670.
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