John McLaughlin, Volunteer

Friendly greeter no stranger to volunteering

It started out in 2003 as ‘temporary’ for John McLaughlin—volunteering in the Emergency department at The Scarborough Hospital, General campus. Today, John is a regular fixture on Sunday evenings, a Patient Greeter pointing patients and visitors in the right direction as they enter the front doors of TSH’s Emergency department.

“I started volunteering at The Scarborough Hospital after SARS as a way to keep busy,” John explains. “I volunteer in the Emergency department here and at Toronto East General.”

No stranger to volunteering, John received the 2008 Community Service Award from the Provincial Civil Servants Quarter Century Club, an honour bestowed on him by Ontario Lieutenant Governor David Onley last May.

He began volunteering in the late 1960s with the Jaycees in Fort Frances. After moving to Toronto and continuing with his career in the provincial civil service, John was active with several organizations in East York. 

When he retired in 1996 after 30 years with the province, “an old and dear friend of mine, who was 85 at the time, advised me not to sit around,” John says. “That’s when I joined Volunteer Services at Toronto East General. 

“Even during SARS, when all volunteer activities at all hospitals were stopped, I wanted to keep busy. I became a volunteer at True Davidson Meals on Wheels, delivering hot meals six days a week. I still deliver for Meals on Wheels.”

In addition to his volunteer work with the two hospitals and Meals on Wheels, John also drives a 72-passenger school bus.

“I am often the first person at the Emergency door to greet any visitor to the hospital. If they’re here for treatment, I try to calm them while they’re waiting for the triage nurse. If I spot something that needs to be brought to the triage nurse’s attention immediately, I do so,” John adds.

“It is always great to work with all the staff here, whether nurses, doctors, clerks, housekeeping. They do a tremendous amount of good work in this old Emergency department. There’s always a friendly hello from them when I arrive, and a ‘thanks for being here today’ when I leave. Sometimes, they plead in a joking manner, ‘do you have to go now?’”