Originally from Scotland, Ian immigrated to Canada in 1979 and THP was his hospital from the moment he touched down in Canada. The care he received at Trillium Health Partners (THP) inspired him to volunteer for the hospital and he’s been gifting his time for over a decade now.
When Ian was in his mid-to-late forties he developed diabetes which eventually affected his kidneys and would require regular dialysis treatments. While receiving this treatment at THP’s Credit Valley Hospital (CVH) Ian realized how integral volunteers are to the patient experience and further solidified his decision to begin volunteering back in 2010. He began as a volunteer in the Renal Department and later the Emergency Department at CVH, all while balancing his dialysis treatments every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
As a volunteer, Ian did it all. He would transport patients to different areas of the hospital, pick up coffee and doughnuts for staff, stock shelves of supplies in the back rooms and engage in friendly conversation with patients and families. He loved the social aspect of the role, and quickly became a familiar face in the hospital hallways.
“My love for volunteering was really a love for interacting with the patients.”
While volunteering in the Emergency Department, he met Ross Haddow, then triage nurse and now Clinical Supervisor for the Regional Chronic Kidney Disease Program. Ross recalls being nervous for his first night shift and was told he’d have a volunteer at the front desk to help, but it did little to calm his anxiety, until Ian wandered over at about 3:00 a.m. to begin his shift.
“Ian was always coming in at odd hours, since he was working his volunteer schedule around his dialysis schedule,” Ross explains, and seeing his familiar face quickly led to a friendship. Over the years Ian and Ross grew close, chatting about soccer, sharing laughs and working together to keep patients comfortable and happy.
“People are coming to the Emergency Department at their worst. There’s a fine line to tread when putting a smile on someone’s face but Ian always managed to do that well,” Ross remarks of Ian’s dry sense of humour, friendly demeanour and self-directed approach to volunteering which made him invaluable to his colleagues and a source of comfort and camaraderie to patients.
The onset of COVID-19 in our community halted Ian’s volunteer efforts but in September 2022 he was recognized in a formal ceremony at Mississauga City Hall for his 10 years of contributions to THP. “My first thought was, ‘Do I still fit into my kilt? I did!” This was a welcome surprise after undergoing a triple bypass in December 2021.
Now that volunteer restrictions have lifted at THP and Ian’s feeling better after his cardiac surgery, he hopes to get back into volunteering, but for now his focus is his own health and time spent with his 13-year old granddaughter.
Inspired by Ian and want to volunteer? Visit our website for ways to get involved.