Welcome Back, Volunteers

smiling older woman outside with a large brown and black haired dog

WCGH happily resumed its pet therapy program this year with the arrival of Bramble and her handler, Marjory, pictured here together outside the hospital. Bramble is a three year old Leonberger and a trained pet therapy dog who also visits schools and a local nursing home.

With the worst days of the pandemic seemingly behind us, we were excited to welcome volunteers back to our hospital campuses.

Volunteers stopped coming to our hospitals in early 2020, when we restricted all unnecessary foot traffic to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.  While volunteers continued to support our work outside the hospital — more than 200 community volunteers stepped up to help us execute our high-volume COVID vaccination clinics — we felt the loss of our volunteer teams on campus.

“Many of our departments rely on our volunteers to supply the little extras,” said Jamie Geretz, director of volunteer services for Pen Bay Medical Center (PBMC) and Waldo County General Hospital (WCGH).

Those “little extras” include supporting care team members with tasks not related to patient care and freeing up our nursing staff to care for patients.

In early 2022, after the fall Omicron surge subsided and visitor restrictions within the hospitals started to relax, we began welcoming volunteers back to our hospitals. According to Geretz, we currently have around 15 active volunteers across PBMC and WCGH, most with us since before the pandemic. The majority of them serve as front door greeters and wayfinders, helping monitor for appropriate masking and hand-hygiene as visitors enter our facilities. Some knit baby hats for our obstetrics units, while others provide a different well-loved service: pet therapy.

Inpatient Pet Therapy

Pet therapy was reinstated in our hospitals in September 2022, with the arrival of Bramble and her handler, Marjory. Bramble is a three year old Leonberger and a trained pet therapy dog who also visits schools and a local nursing home. Pet therapy animals undergo special training where they learn to be calm, caring visitors.

Geretz said pet therapy has been shown to have many benefits for patients, including:

  • Reduction of stress
  • Decrease in anxiety and depression
  • Lower blood pressure and heart rate

She said pets also provide a welcome distraction and a sense of comfort for patients in the hospital. It’s a benefit for visitors and care team members too — when Bramble walks the halls, anyone who spots her can’t help but stop, smile and say hello.

“Pet therapy adds that little bright spot in someone’s day,” Geretz said, adding that our human volunteers provide that bright spot to many, whether offering a warm greeting to a visitor or a helping hand to a care team member when times are busy or stressed. We are grateful for all that our volunteers do, and are so happy to have them back!

Volunteering at PBMC & WCGH

Volunteers play an important role in the overall success of Pen Bay Medical Center and Waldo County General Hospital. Our active volunteer network assists patients, their families, and visitors to our facilities and are valued members of the health care team.

Learn more about volunteering at PBMC.

Learn more about volunteering at WCGH.