{"id":213158,"date":"2024-04-25T13:02:15","date_gmt":"2024-04-25T17:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=213158"},"modified":"2024-04-26T08:45:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-26T12:45:41","slug":"i-still-have-something-to-offer-this-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/04\/i-still-have-something-to-offer-this-world\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I Still Have Something to Offer This World\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
Walk into the UConn Health main building\u2019s lobby on a Monday or Thursday midday, and chances are you\u2019ll get a warm welcome from a friendly retiree in a blue jacket.<\/p>\n
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I like the idea that I could actually be of service. — Joan Munroe<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/span><\/p>\nJoan Munroe is one of nearly 50 volunteers UConn Health is celebrating during Volunteer Appreciation Week, April 21-27, 2024. (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Her name is Joan Munroe, one of nearly 50 people who donate their time as UConn Health volunteers in a typical week.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you retire, a piece of you disappears, and I kind of like the idea of putting an ID on, scanning in, and saying, \u2018I\u2019m a part of the UConn Health team, I\u2019m somebody, I\u2019m still doing something worthwhile,\u2019\u201d Munroe says. \u201cAnd even though it\u2019s a very small thing and it\u2019s only for eight hours a week, I do make a difference. And that\u2019s huge. That\u2019s a big part of the reason why I come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Primarily a front desk wayfinder, Munroe assists the employees who greet patients and visitors in the lobby, helping get them checked in and get them where they need to be. That can mean walking alongside them to escort them to their destination, or walking behind them, pushing their wheelchair.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like it here because it\u2019s busy,\u201d Munroe says. \u201cI don\u2019t want to sit around, I want to make sure that every moment that I\u2019m spending here is well spent. That definitely is the case here, because no matter how many people they have there, there\u2019s always somebody waiting for something. So the phone is ringing, somebody\u2019s looking for a transport, somebody\u2019s looking for a question to be answered, and unfortunately some people get impatient, and you have to deal with people who you have to kind of calm down, so that kind of stuff happens, but I like the idea that I could actually be of service.\u201d<\/p>\nJoan Munroe (center), dressed as a sheep, joins UConn Health employees celebrating Halloween 2023 with a “zookeepers and animals” theme, including (from left) Cindy Valdez, Samantha Burke, Lea Sticco, Keyara Drayton, Ariana Claudio, and Lisa Detoma. (Photo provided by Keyara Drayton)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Munroe, who lives in Wethersfield, has been volunteering at UConn Health since 2017, except for the year the volunteer program was on hold because of the pandemic. She had retired from decades of private-sector service in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I\u2019m retired and I put my career behind me, I still have something to offer this world,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
When she returned in 2021, she picked up a new task \u2013 helping chaplain Dan Warriner with the bereavement cards UConn Health sends to families of patients who\u2019ve died. She hand-writes a message in each one, and often members of the care team will sign them also.<\/p>\nChaplain Dan Warriner speaks at UConn Health’s volunteer appreciation reception April 25, 2024. The table at the right includes, from left, volunteers Bridget Clancey-Tenan, Jackie Lee, Paul Ziskin, and Rose Yeske. (Photo by Tamara Cardoso)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an act of compassion I appreciate,\u201d Warriner says. \u201cI know staff also are grateful to have the ability to say goodbye to those they have cared for through those cards. Sometimes staff spend three days with a declining patient and family but then the person dies when the staff member leaves, and the staff member did not get a chance to say goodbye. And these cards are the chance they have to acknowledge that loss and get some resolution and practice saying goodbye. Having Joan write the cards not only benefits the families who\u2019ve lost a loved one, it also enables me to spend more time with the staff and provide the counsel needed on the floors.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warriner says it\u2019s an average of 10 cards per week, which Munroe gets to when she can between her front desk duties. She says not only is she happy to do it, it\u2019s also meaningful to her.<\/p>\nUConn Health held an appreciation reception for its volunteers April 25, 2024. (Photo by Tamara Cardoso)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u201cThat is another small moment of my time that could make a big difference to somebody,\u201d Munroe says. \u201cHaving experienced grief myself, I know how much it means to get a handwritten note from somebody. It is a lost art. When I sit down and look at the name and I write that note, I know that \u2014 even though I don\u2019t know this person, I don\u2019t know the family \u2014 if I were to receive this card from somebody, it\u2019s going to be a moment of peace for me. So I say a little prayer for each person as I write that note and I think, \u2018I\u2019m hoping that somehow whoever gets this is going to feel some level of comfort.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
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