Give The Most Valuable Gift of All...Your Time!

Looking for an enjoyable way to help your community?  Enjoy helping others?  Want to meet new friends?  Have a few hours a week to spare?  Join the growing family of volunteers at the Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital! By lending us your time and talent for a wide range of daily tasks, you can help our professionals treat more patients, more effectively. Many of our volunteering opportunities require no special skills – yet they can be extremely rewarding.

Join Our Volunteer Family
Approximately 150 men, women and teens from throughout the local community enjoy the positive experience of volunteering at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital.  Our volunteers are students, parents and grandparents, working professionals and retirees from all walks of life. 

Friendships and Rewards
Volunteering at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital is rewarding, enjoyable and a great way to meet other people.  Because patients can stay at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital for up to six months, strong bonds are formed between volunteers, patients and staff. Many of our volunteers have formed lasting friendships that they enjoy both inside and outside the hospital environment. 

Each year, Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital shows its appreciation for volunteer efforts by hosting a special volunteer luncheon featuring guest speakers and awards for years of volunteer service.

Volunteer Opportunities
Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital offers a number of unique volunteer opportunities, covering a wide range of patient-assistance and administrative needs. So whatever your interests, talents or skills we can find the fit that works for you.  These opportunities include:

• Pet-Assisted Therapy:  Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital uses more than a dozen dogs as effective assistants for our therapists.  If you have a dog you feel could help a therapist motivate patients to higher achievement, this might be an excellent opportunity for you. We can arrange an interview and training for you and your pet.

• Horticultural Center:  Our Horticultural Center, including a green house, pond, gazebo and outdoor gardens, is a wonderful place where patients receive occupational therapy working with plants and flowers.  Patients develop skills in planting seeds, cultivating plants, creating flower arrangements, and growing and selling fresh flowers and seasonal items.  Our volunteers help in all of these areas, as well as in transporting patients.

• Aquatic Program:  Water therapy is an important and enjoyable activity for many of our patients.  Our volunteers can enjoy the water right along with our patients, while providing assistance.  Additionally, our pool is open to volunteers for swimming every Tuesday and Thursday from 8 - 9 a.m.

• Concert Series:  Every weekend, Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital presents a concert program for patients.  This musical program is enjoyed by all, but presents a challenge in transporting patients to the concert area in the patient dining room. Music-loving volunteers are needed to help us make these events accessible for all patients.

• Gift Shop:  More than just a store, the Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital Gift Shop is also an important opportunity for patient therapy.  Patients, many of them stroke victims, use their time in the shop to re-learn important skills - with the generous help of volunteers. The shop operates seven days a week, from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.

• Performers:  We welcome volunteers with musical talents to perform for our patients during lunch (12 noon – 1 p.m.) and dinner (5 – 6 p.m.).  Show tunes playing in the background is a great way for the patients to relax after a long day of therapy. There is a piano available in the Patient Dining Room; however you are welcome to bring your own instrument.

• And More:  In addition to these opportunities, volunteers are needed in many other capacities. Whatever your interests, we can find a place that benefits you and our patients.

Volunteer Eligibility
Anyone aged 14 and up can volunteer at Bryn Mawr Rehab Hospital.  Our Junior Volunteers Program is available to teenagers, and offers limited opportunities for helping out after school.  Teenagers are asked to commit to a two-hour shift at least one day a week.

Adult volunteers are asked to commit to a three hour shift, at least one day a week.

Application Process
If you're interested in becoming a volunteer, you will need to fill out an application, sign a confidentiality agreement, have a negative tuberculosis test, undergo a background check and provide two references.  Additionally, we ask that you fill in a job description indicating what kind of work you would enjoy doing at the hospital.

Once your application is received, we will arrange a personal interview so that we can answer your questions, and become more familiar with your interests and availability.

How Can YOU Get Involved?
For additional information, or to request an application, please call our Volunteer Department at 610-251-5599.