Blossom Volunteers – Unsung Hero Awards

Nomination

Award Category:

Volunteer of the year

Individual or Team Nomination?

Team

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 :

The Blossom Volunteers provide support and companionship for those inpatients receiving End of Life Care. They offer a shoulder to cry on for families and an unbias ear to listen. Despite the sad nature of the role they take it in their stride and always turn up ready to simply give. They view their role as a privilege; spending ones last few days/hours/moments, whom may lack the presence of their own family, holding their hand and simply being present. Getting them to try and stick to their 3 hour volunteering slots is a challenge, they are always early and eager to get on the wards. Their sense of awareness is incredible. We have had patients in their last few minutes of their life and Les ( a blossom volunteer) calls me to tell me he doesn't want to leave this patients side as he feels its his time. He was right. Les was there to ensure he didn't die alone. 16 patients have died with a Blossom Volunteer present and many more patients and their families have been impacted. The Blossom Volunteers have been described as ' the stranger I never thought I needed but will never forget'. They are group of wonderful people who put others first and they deserve this award. Coordinating them all is truly an honour and when I retire I aim to follow in their footsteps. They do not only volunteer, they inspire! Especially because Blossom Volunteering isn't the only wonderful thing they do. One of them conducts talks in prisons to help those get back on track, others volunteer for schools, churches and hospices, all whilst taking care of their own families.