Since St. Elizabeth Covington opened in 2009, it’s been able to do a lot of good in the community. Now Sandy Metzger is hoping the community can help out St. Elizabeth.
Metzger manages the gift shop at St. Elizabeth Covington. When the facility opened, the gift shop was open every weekday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
But as the pool of available volunteers has dwindled, so has the shop’s hours of operation. Now the gift shop is open only 11 to 2, and only Tuesday through Thursday.
“It’s hard. We want to be open more often to meet the needs of St. Elizabeth patients,” Metzger said. “But I just don’t have the people.”
Metzger said retirees traditionally have comprised her volunteer staff, but illness and advancing age have forced some to step down. She’s now down to two volunteers. She’s reaching out to churches and other community groups to try to find more. And she’s telling her story here as well.
“It’s a very close-knit little place,” she said. “People here develop friendships with the regular patients, like somebody receiving dialysis or treatments at the Wound Care Center.”
Volunteers are a big part of the lifeblood of the St. Elizabeth Healthcare system. In 2015, more than 1,250 people logged more than 111,000 hours across more than 125 departments system-wide. Their ages range from 14 (the minimum) to folks in their 90s.
Metzger, who also manages the gift shops at St. Elizabeth Edgewood and Grant County, knows well the impact that volunteers make, and what they can receive.
“It gives them a feeling of being needed, a sense of purpose,” she said. “It’s retail therapy, and who doesn’t like that? I’d hate to see it go by the wayside.”
