Hospital Volunteer Program

Thank you for your interest in becoming a volunteer. Below is information about some of our most popular volunteer roles at all of our Virginia Mason Franciscan Health hospitals. Please reach out to the Volunteer Services team at your local hospital for more information.

Animal-assisted activities — Bring smiles, comfort, and distraction to our patients and staff with your certified Pet Partners or Therapy Dogs International dog or mini horse.

Concierge cart — Connect with patients while bringing items and services to the patient’s bedside via a mobile cart.

Infusion center — Nurture, support, and serve patients or family at our Outpatient Infusion Center through wayfinding, assisting in the Family Resource Centers or visiting patient-family members through rounding.

Staff support — Provide meaningful support to our staff through projects like assembling patient welcome/education packets, lab kits, data entry, and reception.

Therapeutic music — Provide a warm, comforting, friendly, and calm atmosphere by playing instrumental music for patients and families in hospital common areas and in patient rooms.

Volunteer companion — Provide empathy and emotional support by spending individual time visiting with the patient or family.

Volunteer birth doula program at St. Michael Medical Center in Silverdale — Volunteer doulas support the birthing mother and her partner throughout labor and delivery to assist in creating a satisfying birth experience. Learn more about our program.

Wayfinding — Hospitals are often complex facilities; provide support to our patients, families, and caregivers by helping alleviate the stress of navigating through the facility as an escort or tour guide.

There are many ways for patients and family members to be involved. At Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, we value equal partnership with our Patients, their Family members, and Caregivers, as we endeavor to improve the patient experience.

Open to current patients, their family members, and caregivers, Patient Family Partners (PFPs) can volunteer in-person, virtually, and on their own time.

Interviews or questionnaires — Participate in a one-time phone interview or fill out a questionnaire about your health care experience.

Online reviewer of materials — Review patient/family educational or marketing/communication materials for readability, simplicity, and understandability. Emails come intermittently.

Monthly listening sessions — Open to all PFPs to collaborate and share experiences by joining remotely (via the phone or computer) so that you can hear about what other volunteers in our community are doing; share your own emerging patient experience concerns/solutions; learn about current improvement efforts.

Family faculty/speaker — Individuals provide presentations through stories about their lives, both inside and outside the hospital. They share strategies for collaboration and teach partnership practices through real life experiences from a patient and family perspective.

Peer partner — Peer Partners provide patients with a connection to another person who has undergone a similar experience.

Focus group or panel member — Individuals participate in a one-time meeting sharing their story, providing feedback, suggestions, or solutions on a particular topic.

Committee or guiding team member — Come share your patient or family perspectives on a variety of committees or guiding teams that plan services throughout Virginia Mason. Examples are: safety, quality or guiding teams planning Kaizen improvement work within a specialty area.