February 2000
Volunteers in For-Profit Settings
Appendix
By Susan
J. Ellis
While I'm making the point about the lack of attention of standard-setting
bodies to changes having an impact on volunteers, I'd like to add
a footnote about hospital services in particular. At the fall national
ASDVS conference (American Society of Directors of Volunteer Services--the
hospital volunteering association) one topic was raised so often that
it became something of a standing joke: tuberculosis testing. For
three days, in four sessions, every time I mentioned some new approach
to recruiting and involving volunteers, someone would say: "But
we can't do that because the rules require every volunteer to get
a t.b. test."
This is what led to my statement in the Hot Topic about lack of recognition
of “evolving trends affecting who volunteers and what they do.”
A policy or rule requiring EVERY volunteer to get a t.b. test is based
on the old concept of volunteers working at patient bedsides on a
regular schedule all year long. But how can a hospital participate
in community volunteer events such as a "Day of Caring"
or a Martin Luther King Day service project if "every" volunteer
must first be screened? One-timers ought to be exempt--probably with
the caveat that they ought not to be assigned direct contact with
patients. Also, given the cost and time of testing, volunteers with
limited contact with patients ought to be treated more flexibly in
terms of this rule.
Let's not forget that every day patients see personal visitors who
are not forced to take a t.b. test. Vendors who deliver items to the
hospital, possibly even to patient floors (vending machines, water
coolers), are not required to be screened, either. So why is it reasonable
to enforce a blanket rule on volunteers?
As I often say, this is based on ignorance, not malice. But who is
advocating with these powers-that-be to educate them about today's
volunteers?
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