Volunteering Opportunities
Volunteers have more than forty areas of service to choose from. Here are just a few ways in which volunteers can spend their time.
- Volunteer Department
- Family Resource Center
- Carol Ann Read Breast Center
- Guides Program (Surgery Day Care Reception and Admitting Areas)
- Telecare
- Markstein Cancer Center
- Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Preoperative Clinic
- Diabetes Center
- DCHC Disabled Community Health & Spasticity Clinic Outpatient Office
Physician Shadowing Program
This program is a reward program for volunteers who have completed 200+ hours. The shadowing experience includes accompanying one physician on patient visits in the units or observing procedures conducted by the physician on his/her patients. Physicians from various disciplines have offered to participate in this program, so each volunteer’s experience will be varied and unique.
Please Note: Volunteers who hold or have held a certification or license for which he or she is normally paid may not volunteer in the clinical departments.
Volunteer Doulas
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center’s (ABSMC) Volunteer Doula Program provides the opportunity for families of all backgrounds to have continuous physical, emotional, and informational support during their childbirth process. They will offer suggestions of positions and coping techniques to help the patient through the intensity of contractions. They are educated on tools that can help patients feel more comfortable during labor and birth, including hydrotherapy, the use of birthing props, therapeutic touch, and massage.
The Volunteer Doula Program is administered by a professional doula trainer and registered nurses who have many years of experience in labor and delivery. Our staff provides full orientation, training, and certification upon completion of the program. Acceptance to the program is based on an application and interview process.
Those who apply and are accepted to the program must agree to a one-year commitment with a minimum of 10 births and will be expected to fulfill 6, 8 or 12 hour shifts to total 24 hours per month. Volunteer doulas must also attend periodic meetings for ongoing education and offer guidance for future doulas in the program.
Benefits of Volunteering
"There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." — John Andrew Holmes
Volunteering is a wonderful gift that can be given to patients and the community. Volunteers meet people, make new friends, use their skills and acquire new ones. They feel a sense of accomplishment and perhaps the most important benefit is satisfaction of knowing they are contributing to their community and making a difference.
Contact
Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
Volunteer Department
2450 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
absmcstudentvol@sutterhealth.org