Cindy’s Newsletter for Gift Shop Managers | July 15, 2022 💮

CINDY’S NEWSLETTER
for Gift Shop Managers

Cindy’s Newsletter for Gift Shop Managers delivers practical, ready-to-implement content to gift shop managers, retailers, and volunteers across the country. We help our readership of over 3,000 retailers optimize shop operations, grow revenue, and connect with one another. The newsletter is published monthly and free since 2001.

Have you paid your dues this quarter?

The value and richness of this newsletter comes from your participation. Do your part by submitting two comments per quarter, at minimum. Reply to reader’s questions listed throughout the newsletter (in green) or simply share what is working or isn’t working in your shop, a great selling product, a helpful website or resource, an operating question, your biggest challenge right now, a terrific vendor you’ve come across recently, tips on managing volunteers, or tips on managing yourself!

LEAVE A COMMENT! Click the green comment tags throughout the newsletter, enter it in the comment section, or send to cindy@cindyjonesassociates.com.


JULY 15, 2022

Thomas Hospital, Fairhope, AL


You need an awful lot of heart

Managing and successfully running a hospital gift shop takes an awful lot of heart. You must have patience, be able to accept criticism and be willing to change certain things you thought you knew. But if you have passion for what you’re doing, a vision for how you want it to look, and the means to persevere through trials and tribulations, well then, you’re on the right track.
 
The key to managing, surviving and thriving in a hospital gift shop environment is perseverance and the willingness to make changes that meet your customers’ ever-changing needs. Besides taking some risks, you must be diligent and open to adjustments and alterations!


The service you do for others

is the rent you pay

for the time you spend on earth.


Name your shop’s top categories with the best profit margins. Go!

Quick: Name your shop’s top three categories with the best profit margins. Go!

What are your top merchandise categories by sales so far this year? That’s probably something you know instinctively. But, do you know which categories have the best profit margins? They may not be the same.

Extra points if you know top sales by category by month. If you don’t have this information for 2022, put a system in place moving forward so that you have this information when you need it in 2023. 

It’s all about the margins! What were your average margins for 2022? When computing your margins did you add in shipping charges and any packaging costs? Did you take into account what you put on sale and which reduced your margins. Remember, pricing is an art and a science and profitability is in maintaining your margins and controlling costs not just about increasing sales.

A great strategy for hitting your goals is to think of them in 90-day segments. It keeps them manageable, fresh in everyone’s mind and reachable. Good luck and have a great remaining months heading into 2023!


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A: What gift markets do you attend?

Hello! I’m a new shop manager. I’m trying to decide which gift shows I should attend or, are you mainly shopping online now? What markets does everyone attend? Should I go to a few small shows or one large show? What is your travel budget? I am in the midwest, but can go anywhere. Thanks! – Lindsey. 6/2/22

The January show in Atlanta is a must for me and I complete the majority of my Fall and Holiday buying at that show. I also attend 1-2 smaller regional shows at the Minneapolis Gift Mart. For apparel, I attend the Atlanta apparel market. – Sabra Shields, Sanford USD Medical Center, Sioux Falls, SD. 450 beds. 6/22/22

I go to the Atlanta Mart in January and buy all of my fall and Christmas for the year and some everyday as well. I get great display ideas and seeing the items in person vs. a catalog makes a big difference. I look for companies that offer less minimums on items as we are a smaller shop. I know that I can usually sell 6 or 8 pieces of one item but not 12. – Diane Honsberger, Director of Volunteers & Gift Shop, Mercy St. Anne Hospital, Toledo, OH. 150 beds. 6/21/22

We attend the Americas Mart Gift Show in Atlanta. – Laura Keipert, Supervisor, Retail Services, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, GA 6/20/22

We generally go to Las Vegas, for three days. Our budget for two people was around $800. Show specials more than made up for those costs. Haven’t had travel budget for two years though and hope to go next January. The summer gift show usually coincides with the ASD show, so it is a two-for-one trip. – Karla Glanzman, Gift Shop Manager at Seattle Children’s Hospital, Seattle, WA. 407 beds. 6/17/22 

We try to do one gift show a year. We have done Dallas, Atlanta and Vegas. Set-up at Vegas was amazing. LOVED IT! Atlanta was the best so far though. – Tricia Rochman, Carbondale Memorial Hospital, Carbondale, IL. 154 beds. 4/21/22

We send about three volunteers to Atlanta every January for about five days. This has made all the difference in our gift shop. They shop primarily for the holidays throughout the year but do order some everyday items as well. It really saves on meeting with the vendors on a regular basis. – Ramona Kennedy, Lifeline Program Manager & Auxiliary Liaison, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, Ogdensburg, NY. 115 beds. 6/16/22

Atlanta Gift Market. The main one to go to is January, but I’ve also gone to the last two in July. I usually stay 3-4 nights, but don’t have a monetary budget for the exact amount. – Roberta Gilbert, Gift Shop Coordinator, St.Claire Regional Medical Center. Morehead, KY. 159 beds. 6/16/22

We have attended the Las Vegas Gift Show and have found great success. Over several years, we have met up with great suppliers, reinforced current relationships and had a lot of fun. This show has a wide range of merchants and the options are fantastic for whatever you might be looking for. Personally I love seeing the FULL range of a product line. Go to shows, they make a world of difference in your buying habits. – Lorene Oates, Volunteer Coordinator, West Valley Medical Center, Caldwell, ID. 150 beds. 6/15/22

I have attended the Las Vegas World Market’s January show for about six years. I previously attended the Atlanta show. The airfare is better for me on the West Coast and the hotels are less expensive than even Seattle. My travel budget is $2,000 or less and I stay the full time. I can accomplish more in 5 days than I could in a month of seeing reps in the shop or ordering on line. Not to mention seeing product in person can completely change your perspective. It also gives you a chance to meet other gift shop buyers and learn from each other. I’ve made connections that are on going. – Molly Forni, Gift Shop Manager, St. John Providence Health System, Portland, OR. 266 beds. 6/15/22

Thanks to everyone who submitted a comment!
✈️


National Candle Association: Fire hazard warning ⚠️

The National Candle Association (NCA) has become aware of a growing number of candles on the market that contain flammable materials including dried flowers, leaves, herbs, and wood embedded in the wax near the flame. These materials become exposed to the candle’s heat and flame in the liquid wax pool. It also coats them in wax allowing the materials to sustain flame themselves.

NCA tested several candles and the results were dramatic with safety failures in every case. The candles exhibiting multiple and large flames with potential to ignite a home fire.

SOURCE: NCA’s Report on Botanical Candles


UPCOMING HOLIDAYS

AUGUST
Back-To-School Season
Aug 3 – Ntnl Watermelon Day
Aug 8 – Intrnl Cat Day
Aug 9 – Book Lovers Day
Aug 15 – Ntnl Relaxation Day
Aug 21 – Senior Citizens’ Day
…fill with fun off-season sales/events!
SEPTEMBER
Back-To-School Season
Sep 5 – Labor Day
Sep 9 – Star Trek Day
Sep 11 – Grandparents Day
Sep 22 – First Day of Fall
Sep 25-27 – Rosh Hashanah
OCTOBER
Oct 4 – Yom Kippur begins
Oct 10 – Ntnl Handbag Day
Oct 10 – Columbus Day
Oct 13 – No Bra Day 🤣
Oct 15 – Sweetest Day
Oct 17 – Boss’s Day
Oct 31 – Halloween

Sometimes we include some pretty unique “holidays”. Use them to help generate off-season sales. “National Sunglasses Day – 15% Today Only!”. Build some fun displays. Be creative! Put all umbrellas on sale for National Pina Colada Day! ⛱️


12-Month Action Plan for Hospital Gift Shops

Summer is a great time to get your leadership team together to develop your shop’s 12-month promotional plan. Preplanning is more important than ever before!

It is never too late to pencil in your calendar of events, promotions, and sales. Look closely at what you did (or didn’t) accomplish last year, how it really turned out and what you might want to change for this year. Remember: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. 

Your shop’s success will take vision, creativity and lots of perseverance to be successful. Customers these days are very savvy. They know that retailers will jump through hoops to get their dollars. So, plan lots of in-shop promotions, coupons, buy one-get one free, funny holiday sales (e.g. National Pina Colada Day) and special discounts for preferred customers.


A Twelve-Month Action Plan for Gift Shop Managers and Buyers

Take the guesswork out of developing your shop’s annual plan. The Twelve-Month Action Plan is a 50-page guide that will keep you and your shop running on schedule.  View a sample page or purchase now for $69.00.

  • 30+ sales event and promo ideas
  • Monthly to-do list
  • What to buy and when
  • Sign templates
  • What to display and when
  • Mark down schedules
  • Tradeshow reminders
  • Tips to move merchandise
  • Display solutions
  • Operating best practices
  • Staff and volunteer management
12 Month Action Plan for Hospital Gift Shops
Click to view a sample page

A: Is there a better method than handwriting POs?

How do managers/buyers purchase goods for their shop? We hand write purchase orders then send them to our in-hospital purchasing agent. In some instances orders can be up to 11 handwritten purchase orders. Would love to know if there is a way to minimize writing all these POs? Thanks! – Sarah Folio, Volunteer Coordinator/Gift Shop Manager, Garrett Regional Medical Center, Oakland, MD. 4/24/22

If you do not have a computer system that manages inventory and has a purchase order module, I would recommend that you create a template in Excel where you can easily type all of your line items. In creating a template you can put in all of your store information, terms etc. so as not to have to rewrite that with each order. – Lisa Garland, Woman’s Hospital, Baton Rouge, LA. 6/21/22

We also use an electronic PO system for our larger vendors. However, due to the nature of our business and many of our vendors that are not huge entitles, we still use handwritten PO’s most of the time – Lee Patterson, Ascension St Vincent’s, Birmingham. 400 beds. 6/16/22

We still hand write POs – Nancy Williams, Director Volunteer Services, Piedmont Healthcare, Atlanta, GA. 6/20/22

Still use handwritten POs – Peter Waugh, Memorial Hospital, North Conway, NH. 25 beds. 5/18/22

Our hospital uses an electronic PO system through a company called Lawson. We prepare a blanket PO for the year in advance for most of our vendors. When it’s time to order we already have a PO in place so ordering is quick and easy. – Judy Stallings. 5/16/22


Q. ISO a “hip kits” vendor for hip replacement patients?

Q. Has anyone found a good source for “hip kits” for post-hip replacement patients? They contain assistive items like sock aid, dressing stick, long handled sponge? – Jill Dugaw, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Spartanburg, SC. 500 beds. 6/22/22

What’s a good vendor for “hip kits” for post-hip replacement patients? <- CLICK TO COMMENT

Get HIP! Lend Jill a hand. Leave a comment! ☺︎

Comment here or enter it at the bottom of the newsletter.

Thank you!

Connect. Share. Grow. ♡

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Why have a monthly buyer’s meetings

Apart from learning/education, there are only three good reasons for a group of people to meet at work, whether face-to-face or online. The first reason is to create a forum—an opportunity for individuals with different values, ideas and experiences to share their perspectives.

The second reason to meet is to make decisions. A decision-making meeting produces direction for the organization or unit. The subject of such a meeting may range from strategy formulation to tactical problem-solving.

The third reason to meet is to build/strengthen a team. A team-building meeting has to do with developing collective capabilities, especially interpersonal and organizational skills. Such a meeting may also help instill a sense of togetherness and a commitment to collective performance.

These three types of meetings form a kind of food chain: a forum identifies issues and options that provide the grist for a decision-making meeting, at which the group selects a course of action from among the possibilities. Aided by team building, the group then implements the chosen path.

Managers should ask themselves which of the three legitimate meeting designs—forum, decision making, or team building—they have in mind before bringing employees together. They also might ask, at the close of a meeting, which of these purposes was served. If the answer is “none of the above,” then they missed a valuable opportunity to save their gift shop money—and save themselves and others time and energy.


10 Commandments of Good Customer Service

  1. Greet each customer like a guest.
  2. Smile at the customer.
  3. Call the customer by name.
  4. Let each customer know you value them.
  5. Listen to the customer.
  1. Assist the customer with product information.
  2. Compliment the customer.
  3. Be considerate of the customer.
  4. Exceed the customer’s expectations.
  5. Look the customer in the eye and sincerely thank them.

Advertising: IRS rules for hospital gift shops

Tax rules permit a hospital gift shop to advertise, but the advertisement must be related to the hospital’s exempt purpose of promoting the health of its patients. It must be directed toward patients, the medical staff, employees, or visitors and explicitly state that proceeds go toward supporting the hospital.

“All of the proceeds from the gift shop directly benefit patient care at Ascension Via Christi Manhattan and the Mercy Auxiliary.”

Sample ad exemption language

When a hospital gift shop serves this limited market, its activities are furthering the hospital’s exempt purpose. But when the hospital gift shop serves a market outside of the hospital, then it is serving a purpose unrelated to the hospital’s exempt purpose.

Advertising in a general circulation newspaper or on television suggests that the gift shop’s activities extend beyond the hospital’s exempt purpose, and will likely attract the attention of an IRS auditor. For example, if a hospital gift shop’s advertising seeks to attract “outsiders” such as local residents, then that “external” advertising is a sign that the gift shop’s activities are unrelated to the hospital’s exempt purpose, and that its income is taxable as unrelated business income.

Advertising for a hospital gift shop can be risky for another reason. The advertisements might catch the attention of local businessmen who are competing with the shop. For-profit stores often sell the same merchandise. This can be viewed as unfair competition. It might spur a merchant to call the IRS toll-free number and report the shop.

While advertising your hospital gift shop in your local paper can jeopardize your tax-exempt status, there is a way around that. Always structure your advertisement to emphasize support of the auxiliaries purpose, that is, to promote the welfare of the patient and patient care.


Stanford Health Care Gift Shop wins Retail Excellence Award!

The Stanford Health Care Gift Shop is the Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine 2022 Retail Excellence Award recipient for #1 Top Specialty Store! Congratulations!

The Retailer Excellence Awards hosted in Dallas, TX recognized the SHC Gift Shop for their unique product offerings and customer experience. The Gift Shop’s vision has focused directly on the community’s needs while highlighting sustainability, diversity, and patient care needs.

Retail team members (left) Teresa Cheung, Shellee Laubersheimer, Khatra Latifi, and (right) Mamta Kaur at the Retailer Excellence Awards Gala in Dallas, TX.

The winners of seven retail award categories, as well as the 2022 Manufacturer of the Year and Sales Representative of the Year were announced during the ceremony. The winners received an engraved platter by Beatriz Ball and are as follows:


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💮 GIFT MARKET CALENDAR 💮

**Always double-check show dates**Jul 19-22, 2022
Faire Summer Market VIRTUAL EVENT
Jul 24-28, 2022
Las Vegas Market
Aug 14-17, 2022
NY NOW, New York
Aug 18-21, 2022
New Orleans Gift & Jewelry Show
Aug 23-26, 2022
Dallas Apparel & Accessories Market
Sep 13-15, 2022
Dallas Total Home & Gift Market
Oct 3-5, 2022
LA Mart
Jan 4-10, 2023
Dallas Total Home & Gift Market
Jan 10-17, 2023
Atlanta Market
Visit Gift Shop Mag Trade Show Calendar for smaller local and regional shows.

JUNE 2022 NEWSLETTER: ISSUE #631
Did you miss last month’s articles, surveys, and discussions?

  • What actually constitutes shoplifting
  • Twig Gift Shop celebrates 75 years
  • Q. What gift markets do you attend?
  • Job Openings
  • Top most useful retail formulas
  • Q. Is there a better method than handwriting POs?
  • Gift Shop Manager Salaries
  • An auxiliary fundraiser idea
  • Hospital gift shop design, con’t
  • Gift Market Calendar

DISCUSSION


LIVE FLOWERS ALTERNATIVE

Q. What are some alternatives to live flowers? We are located in a small town with two flower shops and neither want to partner with us. We currently are offering gift baskets but we still have people that want flowers. Thank you in advance! – Lanie Ray, Fairfield Medical Center, Lancaster, OH. 222 beds. 3/28/22

FreshCut Paper has been a phenomenal alternative for live plants/flowers – specifically for our patients in ICU and TLC. I find myself reordering twice a month. -Meggen Heuss, University of WI Hospital & Clinics, Madison WI. 650 beds. 4/25/22

We have a family member of a volunteer who makes “arrangements” using multi colored buttons, colored wire, and fabrics shaped like flowers and flower buds. They are very popular. – Peter Waugh, Memorial Hospital, North Conway, NH. 25 beds. 4/21/22

We do well with Sullivan Gift for artificial flowers and succulents. Great selection.  – Cherie Towers, Redlands Community Hospital, Redlands, CA. 229 beds. 4/21/22

K&K Interiors has amazing real-touch silk flowers. They are the best flowers we have seen on the silk side. Also, Evergreen has a single lilly in a mini vase that is amazing. Otherwise, the selection is small.  – Tricia Rochman, Carbondale Memorial Hospital, Carbondale, IL. 154 beds. 4/21/22

We use 1800 flowers. They come in a box already arranged. We open them up, clip the ends and put them in vases. We use cello wrap and bows to decorate. It works really well! – Amy, 4/21/22

Spotted at CGH Medical Center: Lego Flower Bouquets. Expensive, but very unique! – Nicole, Cindy Jones Associates. 4/19/22

FreshCut Paper flowers have done well for us. They are beautiful and last forever!  – Dawn Shumaker, Clinton Memorial Hospital, Wilmington, OH. 4/18/22

Live plants or felt flowers.  – Sarah McManus. 4/15/22

We sell FreshCut Paper flowers. They are easy to sell for phone orders when a room can’t have fresh flowers. and hospital staff buys them to mail as they come with an envelope also. Admin staff also buy them to have on their desks.  – Linda Armstrong, Gift Shop Supervisor, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, Tacoma, WA. 4/15/22

Nothing replaces real flowers but silk flowers are at least something to let the patient know you are thinking about them, this is what I tell our customers. We do well with Primitives by Kathy or the bendable flowers we buy at Kelli’s. – Sophia, Community Memorial Health System, Ventura, CA. 4/15/22

Our shop used to sell silk flowers. These were great especially for ICU patients that couldn’t have live flowers. The biggest expense is the flowers themselves, but if you can hit up sales from different craft shops, it’s a great value. Kerri Clark, Community Hospital, Munster, IN. 498 beds. 4/15/22

Natural Fragrance Roses – live fragrant flowers but hydrated to last 4 months. The “no hassle” flowers + fragrance. – Petrus Persoon, CEO, Natural Fragrance Rose. 4/15/21

We sell live flowers, but also sell FreshCut Paper flowers as a cheaper alternative. They can even be mailed for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. We just received our second order. – Craig McKneely, Scripps Health, San Diego, CA. 4/15/22

Ganz has acrylic Posey Pots! – Suzanne, Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital, Sayre, PA. 4/15/21

Do you know of a good alternatives to live flowers? You can still respond to the question here.

Connect. Share. Grow. ♡


PERSONAL WHOLESALE BUYS

Q. Do you allow buyers AND managers to purchase merchandise at wholesale at gift markets for personal use?

Volunteers receive a 15% discount on all items except greeting cards and candy. – Peter Waugh. 5/18/22

Staff and volunteers get a 30% discount on most items in the store – exclusions are flowers, food, books. They can purchase for themselves or as gifts, but cannot resell. Someone else in permanent staff needs to ring the purchase. People here for longer periods are grandfathered into higher discounts available at that time. Sorry this is IN-STORE % off retail, not wholesale – Mary, University of Michigan Hospital, Ann Arbor MI. 1100 beds. 5/17/22

Connect. Share. Grow. ♡


DECLINE IN VOLUNTEERS

Q. Have others encountered losses in the number of volunteers through the pandemic? We started out with over 30 non-gift shop volunteers and are now down to 7. In our gift shop, we had 17, now 3, one of which started mid-COVID (God bless her!). We are currently thinking of hiring a part-time employee to man the front desk from 1-5pm. What have you done to remedy staffing and volunteer issues during the pandemic? Did anyone hire paid personnel? Thanks! – Sarah Folio, Garrett Regional Medical Center, Oakland, MD. 55 beds. 12/22/21

We have had our gift shop volunteers for two years now – starting the front desk this week. – Tricia Rochman, Carbondale Memorial, Carbondale, IL. 70 beds. 3/18/21

We had about 65 volunteers in the gift shop before the pandemic. I now have about 35-40 in the shop today. I am blessed to have some very dedicated volunteers who worked all but the 3 months we were closed. Even then when we were closed we thought outside the box and started doing FB Live shows twice a month and continue with today. They are a ton of work, but truly saved our gift shop. Other volunteers stayed home but made mask for the hospital and our community in the time of need. Our Auxiliary as a whole never really stopped fundraising during the pandemic and overall our numbers grew about a dozen last year. – Ramona Kennedy. 3/17/21

We reduced our hours in the gift shop and have been able to get enough volunteers, but the traffic is not there. Hospital has been remodeling and we have been closed quite a bit. We no longer have foot traffic from front entrance of hospital. Thankfully the employees still shop with us. Our problem lately has been elderly volunteers who refuse to read manual, consequently the computer is often not turned on correctly, they don’t use the scanner to ring up items, they basically sit on their chairs and hope no one comes in. We are all volunteers so we don’t have paid staff. I end up having to drive to hospital quite often to straighten out a situation. I held trainings on 2 different Saturdays and only 2 people came. I don’t want to offend the volunteers but they don’t seem to get it. Hopefully things will pick up and we can do more business. – Martha Burke. 2/17/22

We started with 10 volunteers and now have 4 sometimes 5. We were open 5 days per week with 2 shifts, now open 3 days per week 10-2. – Helen Travis. 2/16/22

We too have fewer volunteers since the pandemic. We are open a shorter timeframe each day. M-F & Sun 10-3. In order to keep all our gift shop volunteers informed, we have a spiral notebook we write updates in. Our volunteers also write notes to us to let us know if they have any needs or something special needs to be ordered or if they have suggestions. Works well for us! – Brenda Welcher,  AdventHealth Zephyrhills, Zephyrhills, FL. 59 beds. 2/16/22

Our store is open five days a week, 12-4pm. We had a good December! Visitors are so few now with no outsiders. I had 13 people working for us but now only 5-6.
Hope you all are healthy, Harold. – Harold Shiffman, St. Catherian Hospital, Smithtown, NY. 550 beds. 1/31/22

Our Gift Shop has remained closed since November 2020. Overall, we have lost some folks but we have also gained some. Currently they are not cleared to serve in the hospital due to COVID restrictions. However, some have been assisting at the Vaccine Clinic along with over 30 additional new volunteers who are at the Clinic. I believe a good portion of those 30 will continue to serve at the hospital once given the word to do so. – Peter Waugh, Memorial Hospital, North Conway, NH. 25 beds. 1/18/22

Internally, I am devastated! Externally, I move on and work with what I have. We are open two shifts during the week. Happy and grateful to have volunteers that will staff the shop. I went from 200 volunteers to about 45 in the overall program. I have about 13 in the gift shop. – Connie Slingluff, Blount Memorial, Maryville, TN. 201 beds. 1/17/22

We have been blessed with willing volunteers who have made it possible to remain open. Although the hospital shut us down for a few months in 2020, we have been able to come back and remain busy. Our Holiday Extravaganza of 3 days did not happen but we held special 12 Days of Christmas sales to encourage employees to shop with us. It was gratifying to see the staff regularly and hear them thank us for being there for them. We enter 2022 with a healthy bottom line and interested buyers, we’re keeping it simple and hoping that our current path is the right one to be on. – Marilynne Field, MercyOne, Dubuque, IA. 263 beds. 1/17/22

We went from two volunteers to one volunteer per shift and are doing ok. But this takes away the buffer if someone can’t come in for their shift. We have had to be closed at random times due to no substitutes. Looking to hire a PT person to cover those shift and help manage stock. – Christie Delbridg, Novant Health Brunswick Medical Center, Bolivia, NC. 74 beds. 1/17/22

Most of mine did come back. I had about 30 with teens. I have 14 adults and 2 teens. Our hours are limited Mon-Fri 9-5. We were on a role and then Omicon hit and no more visitors. I spilt the volunteers shifts to two hours instead of their four hours. – Margaret Legut, Elmhurst Hospital, Elmhurst, IL. 258 beds. 1/17/22

We lost about 20 volunteers. We have reduced our hours and days of operation. – Ginger Taylor, CoxHealth, Springfield, MO. 1014 beds. 1/17/22

We’ve lost many of our volunteers. Our shop is closed on weekends. We are open some days from 9-5, but on days we can’t get enough volunteers we’re open 10-4. This eliminates 1 volunteer per day. We are lucky to have some volunteers picking up more shifts to fill the gaps. We ask people to call before they come to see if we’re open and we post our hours on FB. – Debbie B, Bell Hospital, Ishpeming, MI. 1/17/22

We have had approximately 1/3 of volunteers return, 1/3 not return, and 1/3 defer return. Our volunteers are dedicated and a special part of our success! Also, being part of a university, we have also added student volunteers to our Shops as of December. The students had been volunteering in patient areas before the pandemic, but with that not yet possible, they are helping the Shops! The students are professional, eager, and energetic! We’ve gone from 45-50% of shifts with at least one volunteer, to over 80% of shifts with at least one volunteer! – Mary, University of Michigan Health System, Ann Arbor, MI. 1000 beds. 1/16/22

Connect. Share. Grow. ♡


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