LMHS Volunteers ~ A Brief History

The history of volunteers at Lyell McEwin began in the City of Elizabeth, (now the City of Playford), South Australia, in 1959 ~ even before the original hospital was opened, with the formation of a Ladies Auxiliary.

The contribution of the Ladies Auxiliary was significant and over the years they have made a huge contribution to the Lyell McEwin, both financially and socially.

As the years rolled on, other volunteer groups came on board. Volunteer visitors from local churches started to visit patients and the Australian Red Cross Society placed a number of volunteers into the hospital to assist in a variety of areas.

In 1987, the administration of the day decided it was time to pull all of these volunteer groups together under one umbrella, so a working party was formed to investigate the best structure for the implementation of a volunteer department.

The working party decided that it was desirable that an incorporated association of volunteers be developed, based on the model in use by the nearby Flinders Medical Centre. The Association was formally registered as an Association in July of 1988 and the current organisation was born!

At the same time, the hospital allocated a number of fundraising opportunities to the fledgling organisation, in a bid to help the group to become self-sufficient. The operation of the hospital's kiosk, gift shop, vending services and TV Hire programs all aided in making the Association the vibrant organisation it is today.

Since that time the Association has grown to boast around 500 volunteers working in nearly 30 different program areas. The highly dedicated team at the Lyell McEwin today contribute more than 100,000 hours of support annually.