Doylestown Health’s volunteer program offers community members a valued chance to give back to the hospital that has touched countless lives, writes Olivia Kimmel for Penn Medicine.

The program provides approximately 60 roles for 500 volunteers, an unusually high ratio for a hospital with a few thousand employees. The size and scope of the program make it the best example of the power of community service.

Volunteers come from diverse backgrounds, ranging in age from high school students to retired adults. Working alongside staff, they help provide exceptional care while reflecting the hospital’s values and honoring its history.

Volunteers help direct arriving patients, transport them throughout the hospital, provide comfort before surgery, and carry out many other tasks that honor the vision of the fourteen women who founded Doylestown Hospital to combat widespread respiratory illnesses.

When it was founded, the hospital relied more on volunteers than paid staff, as all roles besides doctors and nurses were fulfilled by them.

“I stand on the shoulders of some very progressive and inspirational women who set the groundwork for how to run a volunteer program,” said Karen Langley, director of Doylestown Health Volunteer Services.

Read more about Doylestown Health’s volunteers and the meaningful ways they’re making a difference every day in Penn Medicine.

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