Volunteering

HOW TO VOLUNTEER

If you are interested in volunteering with REMEDY, send an email to one of the coordinators and then sign up on our Duke list serve here.

All volunteers at Duke Hospital must complete compliance and safety training. Hospital staff and professional medical students will have received this training as part of their initial job or program orientation. Undergraduates and other Hospital volunteers must attend one of the orientation sessions provided by the Volunteer Services Office.  Please call 919-681-6088 to sign up for one; they are offered twice a month.

All volunteers should wear a proper Duke Medical Center identification badge whenever on Medical Center premises and be sure to review Hospital policies regarding:

• Universal Precautions

• Guidelines for the Handling and Disposal of Medical Wastes

• Fire and Life Safety

• Incident Reporting

• Security Procedures

• Privacy

On-line safety training is available at www.safety.duke.edu

WHERE AND WHEN

Volunteers meet as a group once a week at Duke North Hospital, currently every

At these sessions we sort, pack and inventory the surplus received from various areas of the Medical Center. Our target group size is about five people per session, which allows for a meeting time of about 1 hour. If you cannot attend the weekly group session and are familiar with the packing procedures, you may go in any other time during the week, although evenings and weekends are best in order not to interfere with other activities that take place near our sorting area during the workday.

We may also meet some weekends at the warehouse on Lasalle Street where our supplies are stored in order to organize and distribute supplies to requesting projects. Weekly email reminders will keep you informed about these dates and other REMEDY activities.

DIRECTIONS TO THE REMEDY SORTING AREA

Find the stairwell to the left of the main elevators in the lobby of Duke North Hospital. Go down to the sub-basement (zero) level. Turn right out of the stairwell and follow signs to the "Materials Supply Workroom" until you come to the loading dock. The REMEDY sorting area is located to the left just near the doors to the loading dock, next to the back entrance to Sterile Processing.

PACKING AND INVENTORY PROCEDURES

• Empty new surplus from boxes or bags and place each item in the appropriate labeled sorting bins on the shelves. Unusable, damaged, or contaminated items should be discarded.  There are large dumpsters in the loading dock area for this purpose.
  

• Discard any unprotected needles, blades or other sharps in the red "sharps" disposal containers located in the collections area.

• Discard any syringes or sutures that are not in their sterile peel-pack package.

• Unexpired medications, IV solutions and nutritional products can be sorted into labeled bins, but should NOT be packed for overseas donation.

• Highly specialized or technically complex items or supplies are generally not suitable for overseas donation. Examples include cardiac catheterization cannulas, endoscopic or other specialized surgical devices, or devices that require specific machinery or equipment to operate.

• All materials visibly soiled or contaminated with blood or other body fluids should be discarded in the red plastic "Biomedical Waste" containers.

• Containers with liquids (e.g. scrub soaps, iodine, alcohol, etc.) should be inspected closely for leaks and discarded if any are found. Place these in plastic bags before.

• IF YOU ARE UNSURE WHAT AN ITEM IS OR WHETHER IT SHOULD BE PACKED, JUST LEAVE IT ON THE SHELF AND WE WILL MAKE A DETERMINATION LATER.
  

• Cardboard boxes available in the collections area are packed with items from the sorting bins. Whenever possible, put similar items together in the same box, rather than an assortment of unlike items. Liquid containers should be placed in a plastic bag before being packed.

• Record the approximate number of each item in the box on a carbon copy inventory slip.

• Tape the box closed using the packing tape available in the work area. Tape the white copy of the inventory slip and a legal disclaimer (see below) to the outside of the. Save the yellow carbon copy for our records.

• Stack each packed box on the wooden loading pallet. When the pallet is full it will be transported to the storage warehouse for later distribution.

• Each box is affixed with the following legal disclaimer:

"This box contains surplus medical supplies recovered from patient care units of Duke University Medical Center. These materials are offered "as is", and with no express or implied warranty of merchantability. These medical supplies are not being sold. They are a donation made within the charitable mission of Duke University Health System, Inc. The recipient of these medical supplies accepts this donation understanding the nature and purpose of the donation."

"The recipient of these medical supplies agrees that caution will be exercised when removing and handling the supplies in this box. The recipient agrees to examine and inspect each item to determine its suitability for patient use and agrees that each item must be sterilized by the recipient before patient use. Duke University Health System, Inc. makes no assurance or representation of the sterility of these medical supplies or their appropriateness for use in patient care. The recipient accepts all responsibility and liability for use or handling of these medical supplies. Duke University Health System, Inc. makes the donation of these medical supplies to the recipient in express reliance on the terms of this Disclaimer, and the recipient accepts this donation with the recipient's agreement to the terms of this Disclaimer."