Walk into any Alta Bates Summit campus, and one of the very first people you'll see is a volunteer. Hundreds of people a day, thousands of people in a month's time, are assisted in the registration process; given information on how to reach a room, patient, meeting or service; sold gifts or flowers for a loved one; escorted to a treatment room or accompanied to a car on discharge; helped with a menu; had relatives soothed in the Emergency Department - all this and more by our volunteers.

Behind the scenes, volunteers put together thousands of patient charts, make favors to brighten patient holiday trays, dash from department to department with medical records and lab tests, fold and label thousands of letters or newsletters, cuddle distressed babies in the NICU, run errands, and provide other needed assistance in nursing units for both patients and staff. In all, 385 volunteers, from the ages of 16 to 94, contributed more than 54,000 hours of service in 2001.

Become a Senior Volunteer
Open and print the application below to begin the process of becoming a Senior Volunteer. Once you have completed the application, please fax or mail it to the number/address below. To open the application, you will need Adobe Reader. If needed, click here to dowload your free software.

Application for Senior Volunteers

Mail/Fax To:
Alta Bates Summit Volunteer Department
2450 Ashby Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94705
Phone: (510) 204-1695
Fax: (510) 204-3021



“Hospital volunteering has entered a new era,” explains Thora Loutfi, Director of the Volunteer Department. "We're offering volunteer opportunities never seen before.”

An innovative program, Volunteers in Uniform (a brain-child of Loutfi's), has raised more than $1 million for the hospital over the past dozen years, by selling volunteer uniforms to more than 200 hospitals across the United States. An offshoot of this success has been NightinGales Fashion, specializing in scrubs, lab coats, stethoscopes and - the biggest hit - clogs. Loutfi estimates the present fund-raising ability of this enterprise to be "over $100,000 and growing."

No matter their interest or schedule, Loutfi invites all comers to join as volunteers: "Whatever your available time, whatever your skills, if you have a sincere interest in helping others through volunteer service, please call or come in," she says.

Junior and Collegiate Volunteers
There are various opportunities in a variety of departments such as working with new moms in the Family Care Center, transporting patients in our Express Transport Department or Surgery Center, staffing the Gift Shop, playing with siblings who are visiting their new brother or sister in the NICU, assisting with supervised therapy for those who are struggling to regain abilities lost through stroke or head injury in our Inpatient Rehabilitation or Physical Therapy Dept., learning about emergency medicine in the Emergency Room, and many more.

The Student Volunteer Program consists of Junior Volunteers who are high school students 16 years or older, Collegiate Volunteers who are students in college, and volunteers interested in exploring a career in health care.

The Student and Collegiate Volunteer commitment is 100 hours, once a week for a 3-hour shift. You have one year to complete your 100-hour commitment. Your application is your contract to this commitment.

For information about becoming a student volunteer or to find out about career exploration please call (510) 204-2032 or email StudentProgram@SutterHealth.org.

To start the application process, download and print our Student Volunteer Application. Once complete, mail your application to:

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center
Student Volunteer Program
2450 Ashby Avenue, Office 1150B
Berkeley, CA 94705

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