Volunteering with Word on the Wards has been a truly rewarding experience. As a volunteer health coach, I had the opportunity to work directly with patients at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, helping them to address questions they had about their chronic conditions and empowering them to feel more informed about their health. The training and support provided by the WoW team also helped me to feel more confident as a health coach with using motivational interviewing to foster collaborative conversations with patients.
Each interaction with a patient gave me an opportunity to not only offer health education, but even more importantly, it allowed me to create a space for patients to discuss their fears and challenges regarding their health. At the end of a session, patients often shared how they appreciated having someone to talk to, especially since many patients expressed feeling lonely during their hospital stay. I remember one patient in particular who grew up in San Francisco his whole life had shared that all his close family members had passed, so he often felt isolated and alone. Interspersed between our discussion around hypertension and tips to reduce his dietary salt intake, he reminisced with me about the good times he had growing up in San Francisco, and I could feel his energy shift as I saw a smile come across his face when he talked about the fond memories he had as a teacher.
This experience has highlighted to me the importance of taking the time to get to know a patient beyond just their diagnosis. Being able to connect with a patient and make them feel seen requires taking the extra step to listen and understand how their culture, upbringing, or personal experiences might also influence their health and well-being. Volunteering with Word on the Wards has helped to further highlight to me how taking the time to listen to a patient's story helps build trust and is a key component of being able to deliver patient-centered care.
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