Theresa Adams – 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 :

When first meeting Theresa it’s clear that she is a caring lady, she has cared for people all of her life. She volunteers twice a week in the hospital, (contributing 12 hours per week to supporting our patients), she has told us countless times of the joy she gets from helping others. She spends her mornings chatting with patients in the Emergency Assessment Unit, particularly with those who are worried, to ease their anxiety. She supports the ward hostess making sure patients receive refreshments/meals promptly, (supporting their recovery); easing time pressures on staff whilst making their job a little easier. Theresa then spends her time in the discharge lounge on an afternoon, where she will support the patients and staff with any last minute actions, allowing people to get home earlier. Sarah Fletcher, Associate Practitioner said: “Theresa is a massive help to the staff and worth her weight in gold! Theresa will help to collect medication and bring patients to the discharge lounge which has an impact on the staffs’ time as they can continue to deliver the support to those patients that need it. Theresa is lovely with the patients and will go the extra mile to spend time with those who need it”. Theresa supports new volunteers by being a ‘buddy’, helping to show them ‘the ropes’ in their new role. This support is invaluable to the volunteer, (who may be lacking in confidence/have low self-esteem), but also to our Volunteer Service, ensuring all volunteers have the level of support they need. In addition to Theresa’s role on EAU and the Discharge Lounge, she also covers thousands of steps delivering items as a responder, around the hospital, which would otherwise take staff away from their clinical duties. This can include taking samples to the lab or collecting medication from the pharmacy. Theresa has also arranged a tombola to raise funds for the volunteer service team to purchase craft materials, for volunteers, to work with patients on the wards. She often makes beautiful gifts for both staff and patients, to brighten their day. If this isn’t enough, Theresa has been instrumental is supporting a pilot within the emergency department, to increase the completion of friends and family surveys. This gives valuable feedback to the trust in how it can improve its service. The Patient Experience Lead said: “Volunteers have worked hard to significantly increase the number of FFT responses. Theresa’s dedication to the task has helped to improve the response rate by almost 10 times what it was the previous year. The feedback the FFT provide is extremely important for staff to gain an insight into the service experience of those patients who attend the department”. And more than this, Theresa volunteers at a local dementia support group, once a week, giving her time to again, to improve the lives of others. This is a humble lady with a heart of gold and limitless energy for everyone she comes into contact with fully deserving of this award.