Messenger Has Message for Fellow Employees
 |
|
|
Joanne Malcolm, a Messenger and Employee Donor at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre has a special message for everyone who works at the Health Sciences Centre (and she proudly shows it off on her mail cart and jacket). “I’m in! Join me in becoming an Employee Donor.” |
By Heather Vita - January 30, 2018
The first thing Joanne Malcolm does when she gets to work as a Messenger at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre early in the morning is turn on the lights. “It’s dark in here!” she says.
It seems only fitting that Joanne’s the one to flip the switch as she’s the one that lights up every room she visits during her rounds of the Health Sciences Centre every day. “The best part of my job is seeing everyone, especially all the visitors who come to the Health Sciences Centre,” she says. “Many remember me from years ago when I was a housekeeper working at the General. They’ll say ‘Oh yes, you always came to say hi to me when I had a baby’,” she recalls. “There’s one gentleman I see who remembers me from when he was a paediatric patient in a full body cast. I used to go say hi to him and bring him cards or something small to help occupy the time. It’s nice when people remember you.”
Joanne’s is a memorable face for many, especially as she’s frequently seen with her large mail cart. “I’m sort of hard to miss,” she laughs. “I go around to each department, plus the Medical Centre next door, twice a day. Most people know who I am.” Joanne’s cart has been decorated with special signage that makes it even more noticeable; promoting the Employee Giving Program at the Health Sciences Centre. “Between the signage on the cart and my jacket (on which the Employee Giving logo appears), I have a lot of people asking me about the Employee Giving program.”
Herself a donor through the Employee Giving program, Joanne is happy to encourage others at the Health Sciences Centre to do the same. “I was first approached by someone at the Health Sciences Foundation about becoming a donor, and, to be honest, I didn’t even realize we had this program,” she says. “I signed up right away; it was an easy decision for me as my Mom had been sick and received wonderful care here. I wanted to make sure that, if anything happened to me or my family, that we’d have access to the equipment we need to get well.”
Joanne makes her donation through payroll deduction and chooses to split her donation to the Paediatric Fund and Northern Cardiac Fund. “I don’t even notice it’s missing,” she says. “It was important to me that I could choose where I wanted my donation to go, and I don’t think people know that they can split their donation into multiple areas within the Health Sciences Centre.”
“I think we all know that we’re going to need the care of the Health Sciences Centre one day,” she adds, “so it’s reassuring to know that I, along with many of my fellow employees, are actively making a difference in the type of equipment that’s available to care for ourselves, and our families.”