Volunteer Patient Advocate Betty Hedger (right) of Bowling Green shares a laugh with patient Richard Herrington of Scottsville at Greenview Regional Hospital during a game of cards Aug. 4 Photo by Clinton Lewis

When family and friends cant be at Greenview Regional Hospital to visit 55-year-old James Jefferson, there are strangers he depends on for a break in the monotony of lying in bed as he recovers from a diabetes-caused wound on his hip. I think theyre pretty nice, Jefferson said of Greenview volunteers who visit him and other patients each day to see if they need or want anything, or sometimes to just offer company. I ask them to get me some ice water and stuff, Jefferson said. You aint hardly got to wait to get nothing. Jefferson is usually in the hospital several weeks each year for diabetes-related problems. In the past, hes received good treatment while in Greenview, he said. But now two months after Greenview volunteers started visiting patients his stay is much more pleasant. I ask them about the weather and stuff, Jefferson said. Im the type that likes to stay outdoors. … Nurses aint got the time to talk. Theyve got to stay busy. Greenview Chief Operating Officer Thomas Ozburn started the volunteer visitation program at Greenview because hed seen it work well at other hospitals, including one in Chattanooga, Tenn., where his mom was hospitalized for cancer. People were coming in and asking if they could help with anything, Ozburn said. Volunteers would even ask him if he needed a soft drink, or anything else to make his visit with his ill mom better. I was so impressed, Ozburn said. I came here and talked with our volunteers about what (the volunteers in Chattanooga) were doing. Now, unless a patients health prohibits it, Greenview volunteers whose work previously included only directing visitors to the hospital, manning the front desk and running the gift shop show up at a patients room shortly after theyre admitted with a form that includes questions about how the patient has been treated so far. Questions include:Has your hospital stay met your expectations?Has the staff been respectful and courteous?Are you satisfied with the skill and knowledge of our staff?Has your room been kept clean?What could we do better?How may I help you now?If a patient says his stay is not going well, he may talk with someone from the hospitals administration. Ozburn is happy to meet with any patient who has a complaint he would like addressed. We really have been trying to be in an environment where patients can share with us, he said. Volunteers often help patients with small issues, such as getting a patient or a member of the patients family a glass of water, a soft drink or a snack. Before a volunteer gives a patient a treat, though, volunteers are made aware, through reports given to them by nurses, if a patient has any dietary restrictions. Also, volunteers often tell nurses if they think a patient has a problem a nurse would be best trained to handle. We love it, said Susan Cherry, director of nursing administration. For one thing, our volunteers, theyre special employees. They come with a heart. They dont have to be here. They love our patients. For another thing, nurses dont always have time to talk to patients as much as they would like to. Health care in this day and age is so full of paperwork, looking up reports, planning, downloading on the computer, Cherry said. Youre literally running from one thing to the next. Volunteer Betty Hedger, 73, loves being a help to patients. I let them do the talking, the former nurse said. I ask them what can I do to make their stay more comfortable. I think they feel like somebody really cares and is interested in them. Volunteer Jill Patterson, a 20-year-old Western Kentucky University biology and chemistry major from Madisonville, said a lot of the patients are just happy to see someone who isnt there with a shot or a doctors order. Volunteer Whitney Spurrier, a 17-year-old Greenwood High School student, said shes often amazed at how little it takes to help make a patients stay better. Some people dont have a lot of visitors, she said. I feel like this program gives them someone to talk to. One of the most enjoyable things 50-year-old Rosemary Graham does as a volunteer is hold conversations with patients. Just talking to people, it takes their mind off of their problems and sickness, she said. Sometimes, Graham forms friendships with patients. I had this one lady who would talk about her grandchildren, and we had a beautiful time, Graham said. We drank coffee and everything. When the woman died, Graham was heartbroken. I just cried and cried, she said. Graham became a volunteer at Greenview a while back because a year ago, on a trip to visit a son in Baltimore, she was hospitalized with a virus. I was so alone, she said. I was so sick and thought, If I make it through that, Im going to volunteer with other people. Lisa Llewellyn, volunteer coordinator at Greenview, said volunteers can make a real difference for patients who often are scared by medical procedures or intimidated by doctors and nurses. To see a nice, happy face walk in their door, someone who wants to help them and doesnt want anything else, is good, she said. In addition to volunteers helping patients voice concerns while theyre hospitalized, patients at Greenview are also given postage-paid comment cards that they can mail back to the hospital after their release. Greenview also gets information about how patients are treated through a Gallup survey, through follow-up calls to 200 former patients each quarter and through cards that let patients indicate, while theyre still hospitalized, whether their room was cleaned well. We are trying in every contact with people to make (their hospital) stay better, Ozburn said.