"Our volunteers are a welcoming presence," said April Ennis-Pierson, director of volunteer services for Chester County Hospital/Penn Medicine. "They have the ability to calm folks down and be the smiling face ... that helps makes the visit better."

Ennis-Pierson recently announced that Chester County Hospital's volunteer services department is looking for volunteers to support its Penn Medicine Southern Chester County facility, located in West Grove.

Volunteers are needed to staff the information desk, where they will be asked to greet patients and visitors and help to make sure appointments are managed in a timely manner.

"Our volunteers work with outpatient radiology and outpatient laboratory services," Ennis-Pierson explained. "The walk-in patients are coming in for appointments for diagnostic tests. (Volunteers) help them check in for their appointments. There are a lot of folks coming in the first time, and they definitely have a lot of questions, so volunteers offer some directional support."

Interested candidates must complete the volunteer application process, which includes a personal interview, criminal background check and TB screen. Volunteers must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 prior to being selected and assigned. Bilingual volunteers are welcome.

The current volunteer position at Penn Medicine Southern Chester County is in the morning, making it ideal for a person who is retired. "I had two college students (who went back to school), so there are three openings in the morning," Ennis-Pierson noted. "It's a really nice position to help in health care in the community."

Ennis-Pierson said that more than 400 volunteers are registered to provide assistance throughout the Penn Medicine community, which includes Penn Medicine Southern Chester County, 455 Woodview Road, West Grove; the Chester County Hospital and the Abramson Cancer Center, 701 E. Marshall St., West Chester; and the Fern Hill Medical Campus, 915 Old Fern Hill Road, West Chester.

"On any given day I have 40-plus volunteers across the hospital, the satellite locations and the cancer center," she noted. "We have over 23 volunteers in the emergency department (at Chester County Hospital). They will make beds, prepare a room when an ambulance is coming or supply blanket warmers. They may take a blanket or pillow to a patient. They get a good immersion in the emergency department."

There is also a VolunTEEN program where boys and girls ages 14 to 18 volunteer at the hospital on Saturday and Sunday mornings. The teens perform a variety of tasks, such as making beds, running errands and completing paperwork.

"We do a (patient satisfaction) survey, and our volunteers score very high. They are super dedicated and very proud of their position," said Ennis-Pierson. "They are amazing folks."

To learn more about volunteering at Penn Medicine Southern Chester County or other locations, call Ennis-Pierson at 610-431-5191 or email april.ennis-pierson@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.