Volunteers provide a wide range of services at Avera St. Luke’s. Assignments are based upon your interests, skills and schedule and how those things mesh with our needs. Most volunteers prefer a set schedule where they work one shift a week; others prefer to be on-call to fill in as substitutes. Some jobs require movement throughout the hospital; others are more stationary. Some include patient contact; others do not.

Below is a general list of volunteer positions within the hospital. If any of these positions spark your interest, please stop in or call 605-622-5140 for more information or to sign up.

Current openings are listed after the position descriptions.

• Blood Drives: Avera St. Luke’s hosts three blood drives each year. Volunteers help with registration and refreshments.
• Blood Pressure Screenings: Volunteers help with blood pressure screenings at various locations throughout the community.
• Child Development Center: Volunteers help at our center through play, physical comfort and assistance in time of need.
• Craft Group: Volunteers make items to be sold in our Gift Shop.
• Education: Volunteers make packets for patient education and community education programs. They also help with registration for various screenings throughout the community.
• Escort Service: Escorts are stationed in the hospital lobbies to greet, escort, and orient outpatients and visitors to various areas in the hospital. They take calls from hospital departments to help with interdepartmental errands, such as deliveries of medical records, and deliver flowers that are brought in for patients.
• Gift Shop: The Gift Shop is an Auxiliary fundraiser that is totally staffed by volunteers.
• Hospice: North Plains Hospice provides services to terminally ill patients. Volunteers provide direct care, fundraising, and office support.
• Hospitality House: Volunteers staff the Auxiliary Guest House to help guests throughout their stay.
• ICU: Volunteers host the visitor desk in our Intensive Care Unit, helping visitors and coordinating their visits with patients and staff.
• Knitters: Volunteers knit caps for patients who have lost their hair due to chemotherapy or surgery.
• Information Desk: Volunteers staff the information desks to help visitors and patients with directions, room numbers, and other questions.
• Mail Delivery: Volunteers sort and deliver mail to patient’s rooms.
• Menu Service: Volunteers assist Food and Nutrition Services with distribution and collection of daily patient menus.
• Miscellaneous: Some departments request office or other miscellaneous support from volunteers. Examples of this are helping central stores with tagging supplies, stuffing envelopes, clipping newspaper articles for public relations, helping with fundraising events and various duties in therapy departments.
• Pastoral Care: Volunteers help in Pastoral Care in the roles of Sacristan, Eucharistic ministers and office support.
• Sewing Group: Volunteers make Christmas stockings for babies born during the holiday season and finger puppets for children in Radiology and Emergency.
• Surgery Waiting Room: Volunteers assist families of patients in surgery and serve coffee and pastries to them. They relay information from Surgery to the families.
• Therapy Departments: Volunteers provide assistance to therapists by overseeing children, preparing and cleaning equipment, escorting patients and helping with receptionist duties.
• Tray Favor Group: This group meets on Friday mornings to make individual tray favors to be used on all patient food trays at least once a month and for all holidays.

Current Openings

     Gift Shop: Tuesday, 4-6:30 p.m.; Friday, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 12:30-4 p.m.

     Foot Care Clinic: One afternoon per month, registering patients, generally the last Thursday of the month.

    Home Health/Hospice: Office help needed one half day per week. Mostly filing, some help with projects.

     Mail: Patient mail delivery on Monday morning.      

If you are interested in volunteering at Avera St. Luke’s, please contact Julie Fountain at 605-622-5140. The Volunteer Office is located at 305 S State Street, Aberdeen, SD, in the West Lobby  (Visitors Entrance) of the hospital. The office is open from 8 AM to 4:30 PM weekdays.