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Attracting New Volunteers

Posted by Greg Schneider on July 28, 2011 at 7:46am

If your hospice needs new volunteers, most do, what is your recruiting perspective?

Do you recruit thinking only of the needs of your hospice -- am I going to make that 5% target this month or do you consider the needs of the potential volunteer pool?

Being a volunteer myself, who has a busy schedule, I prefer to volunteer with hospices that are conscious of the limited amount of time I have.  Unfortunately all of the hospices I volunteer with in my local area are not using an electronic form of reporting such as HVA's Patient Data Vault.  I am constantly having to deal with paper and envelopes.  When I run out of forms or envelopes I have to have them mail me a new supply, sometimes delaying my form submittal.  Then I have to find a mail box, which is hard to find these days, or get to a post office.  I find it to be a hassle, knowing that better alternatives are available.  If I knew a hospice had easier reporting methods, I would change hospices.

How To Be More Successful in Your Volunteer Recruiting

If you want more volunteers to consider joining your organization, you need to update your management and reporting tools.  Your probabilities of getting a volunteer to come to your hospice if you are still pushing paper and mailing envelopes will be less in this day and age.  Younger volunteers and computer savvy professionals will favor a competitor that is using the Patient Data Vault (PDV), over a hospice that does not use a computer-based reporting tool that is accessible via the Internet.

If you are using the PDV, use it as a marketing tool!!  Put it in your advertising.  Also add that members will receive free memberships to HVA upon completion of their training if they come to your hospice.  There are many resources that are valuable to new volunteers that are about to make a life changing choice of serving those who are dying.  Successful recruiting is about making your hospice stand out compared to its competitors.  Let HVA help you improve your recruiting odds!!

Hospices located in college towns can draw college students easier if they advertise that they care about the volunteer's time and that they use the latest technologies such as the PDV, which allows volunteers to easily submit reports and communicate with their volunteers about patient-related activities using the latest technologies, including text messaging.

If you are interested in trying HVA's inexpensive PDV service, which many hospices have been using for several years, contact HVA at (866) 489-4325.  It will improve that care that you provide and make you volunteers happier and your volunteer program more efficient.

Greg Schneider
President, HVA

Tags: PDV, Patient Data Vault, happy volunteers, recruiting, volunteer programs
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Comments

  • Jennifer Thompson February 12, 2014 at 3:10pm

    Sometimes it isn't the volunteer manager who resist doing away with paper it is upper management. I also allow my volunteers to get paperwork in anyway they feel comfortable with. Talk to both volunteers and upper management and find a consensus

  • Crystal East July 2, 2012 at 10:38am

    We have the volunteer send in visit notes via e-mail with only using the patients first and last initial and no other patient identifyer.  We can find the patient's name from our records in the office.  We have a template the volunteer can use or they can simply shoot us an e-mail with the same information.

  • Janice Cleary July 28, 2011 at 5:19pm
    Greg, I have to admit I have not taken the time to get to know the PDV.  I tend to avoid things that may appear difficult, and I'll bet it isn't, it's just my fear.  Would it be possible to set up a time when both you and I could go over it in detail.  Any other suggestions.  I'm not very savy with electronics, but I am interested in getting on board with the wave of the future.  I'm sort of afraid of what the fees might be too.  Money is very tight.
  • Frances Shani Parker July 28, 2011 at 2:21pm
    An important volunteer recruitment piece that isn't used enough includes informing potential volunteers of the variety of assignment choices they have. Most people I talk to assume that all hospice volunteers deal directly with patients who are dying. They tell me, "I couldn't deal with that" or "Isn't that depressing?" without even considering that I could be serving as a fundraiser or a receptionist. Even serving in patient care, there is a choice of serving at homes or institutions. I prefer the dynamics and variety of institutions myself. I know more people would be receptive to volunteering if they knew they could remain more in their personal comfort zones while giving service. A lot of people want to serve, but they need more specific information about what's available that will truly be win-win for everyone involved.
  • Marcia K. Bundura July 28, 2011 at 9:47am

    How do you do that not being on a network with the volunteers personal computers in staying in regulation with HIPPA?  If you are releasing patient information and documentation over a system that is not secured, or maybe I should ask, how do you assure to a surveyor that the systems are secure?  Personal computers are not considered a validated secured system.  Do you provide laptops?

  • Malena Hinze July 28, 2011 at 9:23am
    We use electronic visit forms and my volunteers love it!
  • Greg Schneider July 28, 2011 at 8:35am

    Hi Deb, what system are you using?

  • Deb Brady July 28, 2011 at 8:25am

    We primarily use electronic reporting and it works really well.  We do make exceptions for those volunteers who prefer paper..or even to phone in their report.  We do ask after each new client initial visit that the volunteer call in the first time to let us know how the visit went and if the match is a good one.

     

     

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