St. Michael's Hospital

St. Michael's Hospital is a major teaching hospital in downtown Toronto. It was established by the Sisters of St. Joseph in 1892 with the founding goal of taking care of the sick and poor of Toronto's inner city.

Today, St.Michael's provides compassionate care to all who walk through its doors in a variety of specialties, including critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, mobility, diabetes and cancer care. The Hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 26 academic disciplines. In addition, through the new Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael's is a world recognized centre for patient focused research.

Volunteer Placements

Thank you for considering St. Michael’s Hospital for your donation of volunteer time. Our hospital relies on the dedication of people like you to ensure our patients, families and visitors receive the service they deserve.

The goal of our volunteer program is to focus on improving what we call the “patient experience”. Volunteers do this by providing compassionate customer service that improves the quality of the experiences that our patients and visitors have every day at St. Michael’s :

• In our nursing units, volunteers visit with patients in the morning and provide them with support and comfort. Volunteers assist patients by completing their daily menus, clearing food trays, orienting them to the floor and by making sure patients have what they need close at hand (tv, telephone, call bell, etc). (mornings)

• In our clinics, volunteers assist with the efficient flow of patients and provide support and information to patients during their visit. Volunteers greet and direct patients on their arrival, communicate with them on an ongoing basis during their clinic visit, escort them throughout the clinic and keep our waiting areas and lounges in good order. (mornings and some afternoons)

• In our Intensive Care and Emergency waiting areas, volunteers provide support and information to families and visitors. These volunteers provide a calm, supportive atmosphere for family and friends of patients, act as a link between hospital staff and visitors, escort them during visits and provide non-medical updates. (afternoons and evenings)

Commitment: Fall or Winter semester for a total of 70 hours. Volunteers will be asked to commit to one 3-4 hour shift per week.

Days and Times: Monday to Friday, mornings/afternoons/evenings.

For more details on our program, please visit St. Michael's website.