Volunteer Spotlight – Margo McLeod / Interviewed by Debby Wells
This month’s spotlight shines on Margo McLeod. She has been a volunteer with Hospice Savannah since 2011. You can usually find her in the Volunteer office at the Eisenhower building on Tuesday mornings.
Over the years, Margo has assisted in various roles. Her volunteer service started with visiting patients, but her knowledge of computers led her to assist in the Volunteer office. One of her initial jobs was calling patients and documenting their status. As anyone who has dealt with the public knows, you never know how that interaction is going to go, and she shared two interesting calls with me during our interview.
One check-in call was to a patient who had a circle of friends that came to her house each Friday for Happy Hour. When Margo asked if there was anything more that Hospice Savannah could be doing for the patient, she replied, “A limousine for our Friday Happy Hour would be fantastic! We could ride around in style and have a wonderful time!”
Another check-in call began with Margo reaching a caregiver in the heat of a frantic situation. The patient had just drunk an entire bottle of calamine lotion, thinking it was Pepto Bismol. The caregiver begged Margo to help her decide what to do. Margo calmly replied, “hang-up and immediately dial 911.”
Margo’s current role is to transcribe patient visit summaries from volunteers. She enters their time and creates government-required reports in the computer system. These reports are meant to document volunteer/patient activities such as playing pool, playing scrabble, reading to the patient, updates on patient health and mental status, and the status of living conditions. She takes the shorthand notes provided by the volunteers and finesses those notes into a full report. Margo also assists with the annual flu shot documentation requirements.