New volunteer outreach program connects Veterans with Veterans

To that end, the Milwaukee VA is pioneering a new volunteer outreach program aimed at engaging with Veterans who may be struggling with their hospitalization.

The Veteran Connection Corps, born out of the work of the facility’s Workplace Violence Prevention Steering Group, will put volunteer Veterans in touch with designated Veteran patients to make a connection and help the patients feel more at ease.

“They’ll be very focused on those Veterans who truly need either intervention or companionship,” said Jessica Serdynski, head of the Center for Development and Civic Engagement, which oversees all volunteers at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center. 

“The goal is to reduce some of the behavioral concerns that crop up, and one of the big pieces (to do) this is offering one-on-one interactions.”

While all Milwaukee VA volunteers go through orientational-type training, the VCC members receive specialized training on engaging with Veterans with behavioral issues, possibly due to dementia.

The volunteers would not be placed with Veterans with complicated issues that required professional help, Serdynski said, and they’re not meant to replace therapists or mental health professionals. Instead, it’s for those cases where charge nurses believe a patient could benefit from that Veteran-to-Veteran interaction.

“It could just be somebody who’s lonely and hits the call light a lot, taking up the nurses’ time,” she said. “That’s a case where a volunteer could alleviate that.”

A VCC volunteer might drop in on numerous Veterans during their time, or concentrate on one Veteran, Serdynski said. It depends on the needs, as determined by the charge nurse on the unit.

And those visits could take different forms: The Veterans may play a game together, listen to music, watch a TV program or simply talk.

For patients with dementia, the volunteers will have specially designed activity books, memory games, fidgets, etc., Serdynski said.

“They (the volunteers) will meet the Veterans where they are at,” she said. “If the Veteran is able to engage and tell them what they’d like to do, they’ll do that. Otherwise, it might just be conversation the Veteran needs.”

The first VCC volunteers recently completed their training and are eager to begin their new duties.

“I have a heart for Veterans,” said Terri Wooldridge, who has been a volunteer for about three years. “I am a good listener. I am patient, and I just want to help people. 

“If I can give them a few minutes of my time to validate them and show that I care, then I think I can make such a difference. And maybe I can be a voice for them when they have a situation going on.”

Wooldridge is a Red Coat Ambassador – a VA program that uses volunteers to greet and assist Veterans at VA facilities – but that provides only fleeting interaction with Veteran patients, she said.

“I want a little deeper connection … a little more time with them to support them with whatever is going on in their life that day,” she said.

Dan Jakubczyk, a longtime volunteer in the hospital, agreed.

“I talk to Vets sometimes who say, ‘I’m not from around here; I don’t have any relatives, and all I see are doctors and nurses.’ So they appreciate having someone come and talk with them. I can listen to them for hours, and hopefully make them feel comfortable.”

VCC member Dan Crass said he often encounters lonely Veterans while serving as a driver for the Disabled American Veterans transportation service.

“They just want to talk to somebody,” he said. “So if I can make one Veteran’s day, if it’s for 15, 20 minutes or an hour, then I’ve met my mission.”

The Milwaukee VA has about 420 volunteers, and around 50 percent of them are Veterans or spouses of Veterans, Serdynski estimated. While some are in the hospital every day for numerous hours a day, others maybe come for one hour week.

Volunteers in the hospital don’t necessarily spend a lot of time with patients. They may drop in to deliver magazines or puzzles, books, or help out with group activities such as bingo, but generally any one-on-one interactions are fleeting.

The VCC changes that.

“This is exciting,” Serdynski said. “We’ve put a lot of thought and work into this, gathering all the right resources for the training.

“And it’s unique — it’s Veterans volunteering for Veterans. And the ones who have signed up are committed and ready to go.”