The following agencies seek volunteers:

Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Neptune, is continuously searching to increase its pool of volunteers. Ways in which volunteers can serve include:clerical (typing, copying and answering phones); courier (delivering inter-department mail and pharmacy orders); customer relations; day care (reading, helping with meal times and activities); emergency room (assisting staff as needed in a fast-paced environment); gift shop (serving as salesperson, taking inventories and wrapping gifts); information desk; pastoral care; patient aides (distributing water to patients, assisting with menu selections and feedings; running errands); surgical department (comforting patients, assisting with clerical needs and serving as a liaison between staff, family in waiting area); transportation (taking patients by wheelchair through admitting and discharge procedures and to hospital testing areas).

Ways in which students can serve as junior volunteers

include: assisting caregivers on medical surgical units, delivering flowers and helping with food services, the gift shop or pre-admission paperwork, clerical tasks, working at the information desk and assisting in the pharmacy.

Requirements to volunteer include:maintaining hospital and patient confidentiality; complying with uniform dress code; attending an orientation prior to training; completing a health questionnaire and medical forms from a physician before volunteering; complying with educational components as required by regulatory agencies. Junior volunteers must: meet hospital age regulations; complete application which includes parental consent and student evaluation form; completing a health questionnaire; making a six-month commitment of approximately 12 hours a month.

Jersey Shore University Medical Center is located at 1945 Route 33, Neptune. Call 732-775-5500 for more information.