Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Mar 19/99) - It's a world of glowing equipment, sterile rooms and strangers.

For old and young alike, the hospital can be a lonely, foreign place. Yellowknife's young people -- through the Storefront for Volunteer Agencies youth volunteer program -- lend helping hands at Stanton Hospital, and brighten patients days in the process.

"At first, I was kind of nervous but after I got used to it, it became fun," Catherine McManus, 15, said Saturday from Stanton's activity room.

"I think it's a great experience. I feel I'm helping people and it's helping me get my community service hours for school."

There are 16 youth, aged 14-18, and four team leaders in the Storefront- sponsored hospital program. They do everything they can to make patients more comfortable, whether that means filling up a glass of water, playing games or just sharing conversation.

"The idea for this came from Yellowknife's youth," program co-ordinator Melissa Hazenberg said.

"We were approached by two girls who were interested in patient care and it grew from there."

Storefront now holds hospital training and orientation sessions four times a year. It's now a familiar sight to see enthusiastic teens cruising the hospital floors. They're easy to pick out because they wear a purple vest with two helping hands embroidered on the back. "A lot of patients appreciate a young person who gives their time to others and the nurses really receive us well," Hazenberg said.

"The hospital is open and receptive to the program which has allowed it to succeed."

Storefront's youth volunteer program has more than 150 enthusiastic volunteers who last year donated over 1,700 hours of community service.

Right now, the projects they are involved in include helping at Kids First Daycare, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the RCMP Volunteer Project and Caribou Carnival, just to name a few.

"The hospital work we do is just one example of how many great Yellowknife youth there are who are doing great things," Hazenberg said.

"Youth need to be thought of more as a resource to our community because they have a lot to contribute."

Any youth or adult team leaders interested in volunteering can call Storefront for more details.