By Gwenn Garland
BERLIN — With a national nursing shortage and nurses facing ever-increasing duties, one Eastern Shore hospital has found a previously untapped resource to help its patients: retired nurses.
Started in 2007, Atlantic General Hospital’s retired nurse volunteer program is a help to not only the nurses, but also patients and the volunteers themselves.
“We want to help out in any way we can,” said Joyce Brittan of Ocean City, the coordinator of the retired nurse program. “We cannot do anything invasive, but our members can take blood pressures, help out with paperwork or even just talk to patients to make sure they are comfortable and have everything they need.”
Jackie Todd, Atlantic General director of nursing, was instrumental in reaching out to retired nurses in the area to assist in volunteer roles that require knowledge of medicine. Originally, the members were to help with the paperwork involved in the patient admission process, a task that a lay volunteer would not be able to do.
Now 12 members strong, the retired nurses at Atlantic General assist eight departments throughout the facility, including case management, pastoral care, the Diabetes Outpatient Education program and the Wound Care Center.
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