Every Tuesday, Peggy Halter and her husband, Paul, collect their cart filled with a “smorgasbord” of supplies, receive a list of patients and begin their day of service at Baptist Health.
The couple began volunteering with Baptist Health a little over a year ago and they visit patients on the fifth, eighth and ninth floors. Sometimes the patients will ask for a drink or a snack. Sometimes they’ll take a coloring book or a blanket or playing cards. One time, the husband-and-wife duo handed out hand-crocheted teddy bears donated by another volunteer.
“Oh, the people just love those,” Peggy said.
More than the supplies on their cart, though, Peggy said, the patients enjoy the company she and her husband provide.
“We just have conversations with them, if they want to,” she said. “Some ask for prayer. Some are just so grateful that people came and saw them.”
“Sometimes they need just a smile,” Paul added.
Paul is no stranger to being on the other side of supply cart, having been “in and out of the hospital several times” over the years. He said being a patient himself has given him a greater appreciation for what it’s like to be the one in the hospital bed.
“I think that’s part of why we wanted to be volunteers,” he said. “Just add another pair of hands to be hands-on for them.”
Surgery put Paul out of commission for a short period while he recovered, and Peggy said they chatted with the spouse of another patient on Paul’s first day back.
“He [the spouse] was just marveling about the hospital and the staff and the volunteers, which is rewarding,” Peggy said, “and we pass that on.”
