Melondy Phillips
Staff Writer
A New Jersey high-school civics project in 1944 spawned, what would eventually become, a highly recognized group of nationwide volunteers. The teacher provided the class with a red and white striped fabric to make student uniforms. They then began volunteering near the school at the East Orange General Hospital. The project gave young people real world experience in the healthcare system as well as a good foundation in community service.
Candy stripers were very popular until the 1990s.
Another volunteer organization called the “Gray Ladies,” which began in 1918, was made up of adult female volunteers who wore grey uniforms. This program continued through the 1960s. The Red Cross also started a program called the “Blue Teens” who wore blue and white striped pinafores. The term “Candy Striper,” along with the highly recognized uniforms, started phasing out in the 1990s as young men and women, of all ages, started joining this society of volunteers.
For a couple of summers, during my high school years, I had the opportunity to volunteer as a candy striper. I worked in the long-term care unit at a local hospital. Most of the residents were either critically ill or elderly and unable to stay in a nursing home.
While the nurses’ priority, most of the time, pivoted around the medical needs of the patients, the candy stripers helped with small mundane tasks such as picking up trash or food trays from the rooms, returning the trays to the kitchen, passing out sodas and cookies to the residents (according to the approval list posted in the snack storage room), and other simple chores.
The main purpose of the candy stripers, however, was to provide companionship for the patients. My days were spent picking up the residents from their rooms and escorting them to the game room for crafts or movies, to the cafeteria for a meal if they could go, or just sitting with them for a couple of hours to listen to their life stories and the adventures of their youth.
It took several days to learn the basic ins and outs of the place – where supplies were stored, how to pick up specific meal trays and for whom, and the different nuances and personalities of each person.
We received instructions and special information about the patients, such as which ones really liked to chat while others preferred to be left alone, or which ones would try to trick us into giving them snacks they were not allowed to have.
Even though it has been more than 30 years since I volunteered at that first hospital, I still remember one lady I had grown very fond of – her name was Mary. A very frail lady, in her 90s, who could no longer walk very well, so I pushed her around in a wheelchair. Although her body was giving out, her mind was still sharp as a tack. I would listen to stories of her youth, paint with her during craft time, take her out around the hospital’s park, and listen about how her family never visited her there. She would laugh and cry and was always eager to give me a hug. Whenever the summer drew to a close, and I had to return to school, my heart would be heavy as I said my good-byes and watched the tears roll down her cheeks.
Before returning to school at the end of the summer program, the hospital held a reward’s ceremony for the volunteers. There were usually a dozen or more candy stripers each year. Some of the girls only worked a day or so and didn’t come back, while others came more consistently. The two items presented as a “thank you” for volunteering, were a cap and a pin. Those who worked at least 50 hours received a cap, and the pin was awarded to the few who worked more than 100 hours. One year only three of us received both items; and only two of us received them another year. These mementos of the hospital’s appreciation of our work were very nice, and I still have them, but I think the impact of being with those patients and getting to know them for the amazing individuals they were, was the greatest reward I received.
Although the term “candy striper” is no longer commonly used, volunteers, or “auxiliaries,” are still present in many hospitals. They provide help and support for many functions throughout the hospital, from working in gift shops to being greeters, or helping with the nursing staff and care teams with patients.
Volunteering to work at a hospital is not always easy nor is it for everyone, but it can be very rewarding.