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Community Hospital North

7150 Clearvista Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46256
Contact: Karen Hicks
Phone: 317-621-5283
E-mail Karen

Music and art therapy

Community Hospital North offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities that cater to many different interests and talents.

Our unique volunteer opportunities include positions in the medical units, along with clerical positions behind the scenes. Additionally, we are now offering exciting new volunteer positions involving music and art therapy, including music, drama, theatre, storytelling, mime, and puppetry, in the hospital's beautifully-designed Gallery and Bamboo Café.

Research shows that the arts can enrich the health care environment by helping to reduce patients' stress levels through offering a source of stimulation and distracting them from health problems.

Through research, it has been found that, in terms of positive distraction, the performing arts have a better effect on patients than the visual arts (P. Scher and P. Senior, The Exeter Evaluation, 1999). This form of art includes puppetry, musicians, clowns, opera, dancing, storytelling, poetry reading and singing.

Music can have an analgesic or painkilling effect and can also reduce blood pressure, along with heart and respiration rates. Music therapy is also used to treat depression, to reach autistic children, and to calm and relax agitated psychiatric patients. Relaxing music has been known to lower the levels of catecholamines, such as adrenaline, and free fatty acids in the blood.

Auxiliary benefits

One of the benefits of joining the hospital as a volunteer is automatic membership for one year in the Community Hospital North Auxiliary, which is a volunteer-staffed organization that raises money for the hospital through fundraisers and other ventures.

Auxiliary members have the opportunity to assist with unique and engaging fundraisers, join the auxiliary board of directors to contribute to the organization in a meaningful way, and attend the annual auxiliary member-only fall luncheon.

Once your free year of membership has expired, we encourage you to pay the $5 dues to continue involvement with the auxiliary in order to assist with directly impacting patient care through financial support of Community North and the Community Health Network Foundation.

Other benefits

In addition to membership in the Community Hospital North Auxiliary, other benefits of becoming a volunteer include one free meal per shift in the newly-designed Bamboo Café, free parking, education opportunities, gift shop and boutique discount, access to the libraries and compuer station and social and leadership opportunities with fellow volunteers, such as the annual volunteer recognition luncheon.

Volunteer opportunities

Volunteer shifts are available on weekdays during the day and in the evening, as well as on weekends.

• Service as a registration and admission clerk
• Assist the concierge team at the Concierge/Information Desk
• Serve as a clinical assistant to clinical staff
• Delivery of flowers, gifts, e-greetings, newspapers and more
• Coordination of volunteer and auxiliary fundraisers
• Escort patients
• Assist the gift shop and boutique
• Assist in maternity and family rooms
• Perform clerical services in various departments, such as administration, radiology, surgical services, outpatient, emergency and concierge
• Staff surgery waiting rooms
• Dispatch and deliver wheelchairs to units, gallery, emergency department
• Sew children's pillows, make baby hats, wheelchair bags, maternity bedside bags
• Serve as an ambassador for the Cancer Center
• E-learning with myCommunity card
• GetWell e-education to teach patients about their care
• Service as admissions for health promotions

An expanded list of volunteer positions will be provided during your interview.