Jamie Stiller is one person who enjoys going to the hospital. As a volunteer, she spends about six hours every week with patients at the Grey Nuns Community Hospital, a Covenant Health facility in Edmonton.
“I just love going into the hospitals and being able to sit down and connect with people who are in the wards and have been sick. I know that everybody in a hospital has a story, and I think that sometimes these people just need someone to be there for them, listen to them and give them whatever comfort they can give.”
Jamie spends much of her hospital volunteer time in the Grey Nuns’ Child Health Clinic entertaining the children while the doctors and other clinicians are meeting, something she says she particularly enjoys. She has also recently completed some dementia training so that she is better equipped to offer support in wards with many dementia patients.
Jamie’s ability to empathize and connect with patients recently led her to become the recipient of the 2024 Covenant Mission Award for Compassion. While she says she was stunned to learn that she had received the award, noting that she could think of any number of individuals who were as deserving as she was, she recognizes that she brings unique skills to her work.
“I think I have a knack for being empathetic and putting myself in the shoes of other people,” she says.
Social connectivity is in her DNA, Jamie says. A longtime Sherwood Park resident, she was raised in a family that was always looking after foster children, with new kids constantly coming into her family home whom she would need to get to know. The early strong interpersonal skills she developed translated into a long career at TD Canada Trust, where she carved out a niche as a customer experience coach.
Following her retirement, Jamie felt a calling to volunteer at hospitals. She began in 2020 by crocheting dolls and donating them to hospital patients, since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented her from offering her services directly in hospitals. Once the pandemic subsided, she started going to sites and doing whatever was needed. In addition to her hospital volunteer work, she is a member of the Associates of Caritas board, to which she lends her strong team-building skills.
Recently, Jamie was touched by a personal tragedy that made her work challenging and provided further motivation to volunteer, she says.
“My daughter passed away at Grey Nuns on Valentine’s Day of this year.
“She left behind two beautiful granddaughters who remind me of her every day. Sometimes it’s hard going into the same hospital where she died, but it ended up being good for me because it was an outlet that I needed. I found myself saying, ’OK, I can't change what happened to me, but maybe I can support people who might be going through something similar.’ Now, any time I go into the Grey Nuns, I think to myself, ’I'm doing this for you, sweetheart!’”
Jamie’s advice to newcomers to her role is very straightforward.
“Just be open, be yourself and don't be afraid. Don't be afraid to say something, to introduce yourself and so on. Sometimes you can feel a little bit intimidated, and you just have to remind yourself that you want to go in there, make a connection with another person, interact with them and make their day better.”
She adds that active listening skills take work, especially in our modern wired society.
“I think that nowadays with electronics and phones we're starting to lose our ability to interact on a personal level. When we walk into an interaction like the ones I have at the hospital, we should put our devices away and just be there and be present and available, with eyes and ears open. I think the same applies to all our interactions in our life.”