Patient Family Housing Program Volunteer Interest Form

Patient Family Housing Program Volunteer Interest Form

Thank you for your interest in the Patient Family Housing Program.

All volunteers who come onsite follow strict safety guidelines to ensure the safety and comfort of patients and families staying within the Patient Family Housing Program.

You will receive a response back from a Patient Family Housing Program Staff Member within two business days.

Your Full Name*

Volunteer Group Name (if applicable)

Your email address:*

Your phone number*

How are you interested in volunteering?*

Donate a catered meal for families

Donate, prepare, and drop off individual craft or activity bags for families

Donate, prepare, and host onsite craft or activity with families

Host a food pantry drive to collect sealed pantry items for the Patient Family Housing Program

Host a holiday meal

Host a general family meal onsite

I am Interested in volunteering on a specific date:

How frequently would you like to donate a catered meal, and what do you hope to contribute? (one-time, monthly, weekly, other)*

Nearby restaurants that we work with frequently are:

CaterCow

Regina Pizzeria

RocheBros Catering

Suggested meal formats include: burritos, pizza, or other individually packaged for easy grab and go options for families.

How frequently would you like to drop off craft or activities for families? (one-time, monthly, weekly, other)*

Crafts may be dropped off any day of the week.

Suggested items may be store-bought or volunteer prepared (in clear storage bags or other clear containers) craft kits that include all items necessary to complete it, such as safety scissors, pencils, tape, glue, pipe cleaners, etc.

How frequently are you interested in hosting onsite craft or activities with families? (one-time, monthly, weekly, other)*

Suggested activity formats include: store-bought or volunteer prepared craft kits that include all items necessary to complete it, such as safety scissors, pencils, tape, glue, pipe cleaners, etc.

Please share how you would like to host a holiday meal for families*

If you would like to host a specific holiday, please share information here.

Please share how frequently you wish to cook a meal for families onsite?*

Suggested meal formats include: outdoor BBQs during nice weather, and items that allow for easy grab and go options for families when possible.

Food Pantry Drives may be hosted any time of the year, and as frequently as you wish. Please share your plan below*

See list below.

Food Pantry Items

Bagged Fresh fruit

•Apples

•Bananas

•Pears

•Oranges

Baking mixes

• Cookie mix (add water type is best)

• Brownie mix

• Boxed cake mix and frosting

• Breads/muffins

Snack foods - (single serving/snack packs)

• Granola bars

• Fruit snacks

• Cheese and peanut butter crackers

• Cookies (all kinds)

• Chips (all kinds)

• Single-serving cereal boxes

• Juice boxes

• Nuts (small individual packs)

• Dried fruit mixes (small individual packs)

Meal items

• Soups

• Tuna and canned chicken

• Small jars of tomato sauce for pasta

• Pasta

• Chef Boyardee canned pasta meals

Stock kitchen items

• Olive Oil

• Vegetable Oil

• Cooking sprays

• Individual packets of hot cocoa

• Single family-sized bags of white rice

• Cans of beans (kidney, black, garbanzo)

• Cans of tomatoes

• Sugar (white, powdered)

• Flour

Non-food pantry item

HE laundry pods

What days and times are you/your group available to volunteer?*

Patient Family Housing Program Volunteer Guidelines

To ensure the health and well-being of all families, volunteers, and staff, we have implemented volunteer guidelines for food donations and on-site visits.

General Guidelines for All onsite Patient Family Housing Volunteers

• All volunteers must sign in and attest that they are vaccinated and experiencing no symptoms of COVID-19

• Number of on-site volunteers allowed:

• Yawkey Family Inn: maximum of 4 volunteers at a time

• The Bon: maximum of 6 volunteers at a time

• A designated timeframe will be determined with the group before the commitment date

• If these days do not work for your group, you are welcome to speak to the program manager to discuss possibly expanding the schedule sometime in the future.

Meal Guidelines

• Meals prepared on-site must be individually packaged to facilitate easy grab-and-go options for families.

• Catered meals can be delivered any day of the week outside of already scheduled meal events. We ask that these items be individually packaged to facilitate grab-and-go options for families.

• The Patient Family Housing Program will provide disposable masks and gloves as needed. We encourage volunteers to bring individual food containers for packaging. Please discuss with program staff the supplies needed for meal preparation before the meal/activity scheduled date.

• Suggested Meal Formats include: Outdoor BBQ, catered individual meals, and on-site prepared meals (individually packaged).

• All menu items need to be approved in advance by Patient Family Housing Program staff.

Activity Guidelines

• Individually packed craft activity with instructions and all supplies needed to complete it for easy grab and go option for families.

• Volunteers can assist patients/families with crafts. It is helpful to have written instructions/illustrations for grab an go option.

• Individually packaged crafts can be dropped off any day of the week.

• Suggested Activity Formats include: Store-bought or volunteer prepared (in sandwich- or gallon-sized storage bags or other clear containers) craft kits that include all items necessary to complete it, such as safety scissors, pencils, crayons, tape, glue, pipe cleaners, etc.

HIPAA Confidentiality and Boundaries

Each volunteer enters the hospital with individual and unique goals. Understanding yourself and your goals will help you to separate your particular needs and values from those of patients and families. This self-awareness can be very complex and will be ongoing during your tenure as a volunteer.

Volunteer interactions should be directed toward supporting existing resources. This can be achieved only by following the directions of supervisory staff that will help you to develop well-defined boundaries in your relationships with patients and families. Over-involvement occurs when volunteers give more of themselves than is essential in the delivery of their supportive services. At all times, volunteers must remember that they are not Children’s Hospital professional staff and that they should limit their interactions to duties defined in their volunteer position description.

Volunteering at Children’s Hospital is emotionally complex and requires ability to separate one’s own needs from those of patients and families. The volunteer must learn to establish caring relationships while maintaining clear boundaries…to be friendly without being a friend. The supervisory staff in your assigned area and the staff in Volunteer Services encourage you to share with them your concerns about these issues.

The following behaviors are inadvisable and could be grounds for dismissal from the volunteer program:

• Visiting patients and/or families during times other than your designated volunteer shift

• Socializing with patients and/or families outside the hospital

• Visiting patients and/or families following discharge

• Continuing to support families following the death of a child

• Buying personal gifts for patients and/or families

• “Competing” with staff or other volunteers for the affection of patients and/or families

• Withholding information from staff about the concerns of patients and/or families

• Giving patients and/or families a ride in a vehicle

• Communicating via patient’s websites, including the patient’s Care Page, is inappropriate.

• Exchanging home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information with patients and/or families

• Texting from your cell phone to share patient information

• Posting on Social Media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, etc…) anything having to do with patients and their families *

* Social Media Etiquette

This section pertains to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, and any other social media platform.

• Absolutely no information having anything to do with patients and their families should be posted on social media. This includes information either expressly stated or implied.

• Being a “friend” or “connection” through social media with a patient or their family is a HIPAA and boundary violation. We need to maintain our professional role when relating to others in this capacity. Inappropriate personal relationships can be misconstrued and may jeopardize our ability to provide care.

• Anything you say to one person on social media is visible to many. This “many” includes people you both know and don’t know. Your comments may be perceived as offensive or inappropriate. Take caution when posting a story or comment.

If you have additional questions feel free to give us a call at 617-919-3456 or email us at familyhousing@childrens.harvard.edu

Acknowledgment and Agreement to Adhere to the Patient Family Housing Program’s Volunteer Guidelines and Boston Children’s Hospital’s Volunteer Boundaries:*

I have read the above guidelines pertaining to the volunteer guidelines and agree to adhere to these procedures.

Yes

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