What is your name?
Gordon
What volunteering do you do?
I volunteer through the Involvement Centres.
Where do you volunteer?
Mainly Millbrook and the Rosewood Involvement Centre, but also all across the Trust.
When did you start volunteering?
About two years ago.
Why did you choose to volunteer?
After seeing a counsellor for a while, she advised me to put things into practice and introduced me to the Rosewood Involvement Centre.
Describe what you do in 100 words or less.
I do the gardening at Rosewood and Millbrook. I enjoy doing the gardening as I like to see things grow as I’ve got green fingers and the finished result of giving the produce to people and seeing their faces smile makes it all worthwhile. I also go to meetings with patients and staff and my role is to listen to people with a view to make patient’s experiences better.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
Helping other people.
What three words would you use to describe the NHS?
Fantastic Miracle Workers.
If you could give the NHS any 70th birthday present what would it be?
A new minister!
What advice would you give to someone who was thinking about volunteering at Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust?
You’ll learn lots of new things, meet lots of new people and make lots of new friends. Your point of view will be listened to.
Gordon’s also previously written blogs for us here and here.
Follow our countdown to the NHS’s 70th birthday as we post a blog a day.
https://www.england.nhs.uk/nhs70/