This hospital volunteer gig goes beyond pushing the book cart.
White Plains Hospital has asked its army of volunteers to sign up for gigs typically reserved for trained employees, including putting lab samples into a centrifuge machine, according to documents received by The Post.
In an October email, the volunteer manager asked for volunteers willing to work from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. scanning documents for a cancer database noting the workers “must be able to remain stationery [sic] for extended time.” There was also an opening for someone to pull products from a storeroom and another to sort and file in the patient accounts office, along with more traditional jobs such as staffing the information desk and gift shop.
A hospital spokesman did not directly address why it uses the free workforce.
“Volunteers work throughout the hospital and help with numerous assignments, including clerical responsibilities or office work, or activities that support the patient experience,” said spokesman Michael Gelormino.
In general a license or other authorization is needed to work in clinical laboratory technology
- According to the state Education Department
One reason White Plains, which has 292 beds and 750 volunteers, may be able to rely on volunteers is that there is no union representation at the suburban hospital, which is part of the Bronx-based Montefiore Health System.
A Montefiore spokeswoman would not say whether such practices are used in other system hospitals.
The state Education Department, which licenses health care professionals, said that in general a license or other authorization was needed to work in clinical laboratory technology but more information was needed to determine if that was the case for the White Plains volunteers.
The hospital later added that “No volunteers at White Plains Hospital are performing the work of licensed technical personnel, in the lab or anywhere else at the hospital…. All of our volunteers are supervised and are provided training specific to the role they are serving in to support the hospital.”
White Plains has no trouble paying hefty wages to some of its workers. Thee total compensation for president Susan Fox came to $2.3 million in 2018, including a salary of $1.2 million and an $800,000 bonus.