While Penn is committed to volunteering all year round, there is something particularly “magical” about giving back to the community during the holiday season – especially when staff from two hospitals collaborate to spread the love even further. That’s exactly what happened when perioperative nurses from PPMC/PMUC and PAH came together to serve dinner at the Gift of Life (GOL) Family House in North Philadelphia.
The Family House serves as a “home away from home” for transplant patients and their families traveling from outside of the region. GOL’s “Home Cook Heroes” program gives volunteers the opportunity to cook for guests, plus the rewarding chance to talk with patients as they await a second chance at life.
The perioperative teams – clad in their Penn Medicine CAREs t-shirts – found that not only were many of the guests Penn patients or related to patients at one of our entities, but that they had nothing but wonderful things to say about their experiences.
“It was very special for all of us because as perioperative nurses, our time with patients while they are awake is very limited, and time with their families is even more limited,” said Matthew Young, BSN, RN, CNOR, clinical nurse III in Perioperative Services at PPMC. “This was our first time trying this type of outreach, and we look forward to doing this again in 2018.”