Sue Lofthouse – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Volunteer of the year

Individual or Team Nomination?

Individual

Qualifying Qualities

In these challenging times, nominators were asked to show how the nominee had demonstrated the following qualities:

Exceptional work ethic - going above and beyond their job description, especially in the past 12 months.
Outstanding achievement/s in work or outside of the organisation where relevant.
Drive for innovation and proactive leadership in these challenging times.
High level of interpersonal skills, such as kindness, empathy, loyalty and thoughtfulness to staff and patients.
A resilience considering Covid to their role and to the health and wellbeing of their colleagues.

Nominators Answer

Nominee's story :

Sue has been a Therapeutic care volunteer since November 2016, she joined after caring for her husband until he sadly passed away. From day one we knew how lucky we were to have Sue join us. To spend time with her is a blessing, her gentle; her kind approach puts everyone at ease. Sue has the natural ability to bring calmness to every situation. In her time as a volunteer she has been a link for psyche liaison as a Forget me not support volunteer looking after our patients with dementia and delirium, we would always know when a patient had been with Sue, they would look pampered and comfy and would always have a smile, she goes above and beyond to meet all their needs and would always involve family too. Sue was an integral part of our knit and natter group; bringing patients together (often more natter than knitting) this led to Sue becoming a volunteer mentor, all of our new volunteers would be assigned to Sue to learn the ropes. They all love her, if you were mentored by Sue you became a gold standard volunteer. Every event we hold Sue gets involved in , whether is fundraising , awareness raising or social events Sue is there in the centre of it all . Sue became unwell herself and throughout her treatment she remained so positive and stayed in touch with us , we became her volunteers , spending time with her when she was in , all that she had given we could give back . As soon as Sue was in remission she was straight back with us. During COVID Sue supported our masks stands and as always she went the extra mile, making sure patients were greeted so nicely, escorting them to appointments and always with a wellbeing chat. When I have asked the team what they think of Sue the following words came back, kind, loving, compassionate, caring, graceful, selfless and committed. Sue really is the heart of therapeutic care. Sadly Sue is now unwell again but this hasn’t stopped her providing therapeutic care, she provides this for the ladies in the bay and arranged for them to go off the ward with her to the gardens, she is spending time comforting and supporting them alongside out team, Over the years Sue has become so well known by the wider teams in the hospital and our local mental health trust. The thousands of patients she will have met have all been so lucky to have had Sues input because she will have made a huge difference to their hospital stay. As a nurse I feel proud that I have been able to have Sue in my team , she has demonstrated every aspect of the Chief nurses 6 Cs in abundance and she is very very special to us , a true example of what a volunteer should be