As volunteer and interpreter services coordinator for St. Mary’s Health System, Jenny Cowie oversees nearly 200 people. Adults who park your car when there’s an emergency. Interpreters for patients who don’t speak English. Kids who water the plants. 

It’s a big job. And she loves it.

Name: Jenny W. Cowie

Age: 34

Town: Auburn

Tell me about the summer volunteer program that just finished: It was great! I love having the kids here during the summer. We had 30 wonderful kids, all of who went through our two-and-a-half day orientation program to prepare them for the various tasks they would perform over the summer. The junior volunteers assisted in our patient transport office, helped us with many projects, including watering the plants around our system. We had several junior volunteers helping out at d’Youville Pavilion, spending time with our elders; throughout the summer they were an asset to our system. The junior volunteers volunteered a total of 3,712 hours!

Did you volunteer a lot as a kid? The town I grew up in did not have many volunteer opportunities, so I really did not do any volunteering as a kid, unless you count “volunteering” to do the family dishes and “volunteering” to fold clothes. Plus, as soon as I was old enough to work, I got a job.

Are hospital volunteers still called candy stripers? No, not any more

Do they have a red-and-white uniform? No, our volunteers have a burgundy vest and wear a St. Mary’s Volunteer Badge

What do hospital volunteers do nowadays? Our volunteers assist with transporting patients around the hospital, delivering mail, greeting patients, visitors and families, they assist departments with filing and mailing projects, we have volunteers who are eucharistic ministers, volunteers who visit our elders at d’Youville Pavilion and transport them to activities and functions, and we have volunteers who volunteer in our gift shop; our volunteers are part of our team and we value them.

What’s the coolest/best/most fun thing a volunteer gets to do? Personally, I think being a valet parker would be fun. They park some pretty cool cars.

What’s the hardest/most challenging/most boring thing a volunteer has to do? Speaking for myself, the most boring, but necessary task is filing! Thank goodness there are people out there who truly enjoy this assignment.

As coordinator, do you ever do any of the interpreting? I could probably interpret in French what the weather is like and how I’m feeling, but no, I am not qualified to interpret.

What should people know if they want to volunteer at a hospital? We do have an application process. A potential volunteer completes an application, they mail it to our department, once we have reviewed the application and see that there may be a match with their skills and availability and our needs, we then call that person in for an interview. Our applications are located on our website www.stmarysmaine.com and at our information desk in our front lobby.

Best hospital show ever: “St. Elsewhere,” “ER,” or “Grey’s Anatomy”? Well, I loved the drama and story line of “ER,” but there’s something about that McDreamy that has me fixated on my television every Thursday!

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