It was so wonderful to see Baptcare’s Coasthaven resident Norm and volunteer Di in the Geelong Advertiser recently, celebrating National Volunteers week.

Di has been volunteering with the residents at the Coasthaven aged care community for 1 year. 

She came on board during the 2nd lockdown last year as a Virtual Volunteer and commenced Skyping with residents who are isolated and don’t receive many visitors.  

As a retired librarian, Di really enjoys exploring the residents’ lives, particularly cultural and spiritual aspects.  

This year Di has commenced volunteering in person (in between lock downs) and is very popular with the residents. Some of the ways in which Di volunteers include: 

• Helping one resident to remember the history of the Netherlands, his homeland. Di borrows books from the library on Dutch history through the ages (1300s, 1500s, etc) and sits down with the resident and they discuss the history together. The resident is thrilled by this and loves when Di visits. It’s the highlight of his week, other than happy hour!  
• Di has been absolutely fantastic engaging with a particularly isolated resident who does not come out of her room and does not otherwise socialise. Di started talking to her via Skype in 2020 and since attending in person this year, her companionship with that resident has flourished. She recently sourced a very rare Japanese crochet stitch book for her to enjoy.  
• Di has also been getting to know an Irish Catholic female resident who is unable to read the Bible independently. Di sits with her to discuss her family history, the history in Ireland and reads verses with her from the Bible. This has brought much delight and emotional and spiritual support to the resident. 

“Di is 100% reliable and enthusiastic. She’s a very kind, sensitive and thoughtful volunteer who likes to let the resident take the lead on what they discuss.” 

Nothing is too much for Di. She’s always happy to meet residents, have a cuppa and keep them company. She regularly goes out of her way to source specialist books for them and reads to them— she is a model volunteer that continues to be a Christlike example everyday. 

Di is a joy to work with and the Coasthaven aged care community is very blessed to have her as part of the family. 

For more of her story, check out the Baptcare Facebook page here.  

Baptcare provide training programmes for volunteers in their Aged Care facilities and for in home services.  If  you’d like to become a volunteer with Baptcare, please email volunteer@baptcare.org.au.