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Healing words: UAB students volunteer to help nurture the soul

Posted on Apr 08, 2008 in News

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For many people, a hospital stay can be a lonely experience; in fact, it can be downright boring. One UAB student, however is determined to alleviate the pain of this mind-numbing situation. Valerie Gribben, an English major named to the USA Today All-USA College Academic First Team in 2007, is the founder of Healing Words, a volunteer organization that offers UAB students the opportunity to read stories and book excerpts for patients in local hospitals and nursing homes. The organization was inspired by Gribben’s own experience with her mother’s illness.

“While my mother was undergoing treatment for advanced breast cancer, I started reading her chapters from the draft of my novel The Fairytale Trilogy,” said Gribben, who was accepted into the Early Medical School Acceptance Program at UAB and will be attending UASOM in the fall. “While I was reading to her, she perked up for the first time in months. I founded Healing Words that summer because I wanted to be able to replicate that experience for other patients.”

Indeed, patients and medical care staff alike are highly praiseful of the Healing Words program.

“We have new units calling every week requesting readers,” said Callie Dunaway, volunteer coordinator at UAB Hospital. “The nurses and doctors love the students coming in to stimulate a patient’s mind with literature.”

According to Dunaway, many patients go days without visits from their family. Oftentimes, the family lives out of town, or the family members work and are only available to visit at night. The Healing Words volunteers can brighten the day for these patients.

“The Healing Words readers present someone to talk with and offer an opportunity to take the patient’s mind off their surroundings by having a story read to them. We often times find elderly patients do not want to be read to, but instead want to talk and tell stories from when they were growing up. Volunteers often walk through my door and say, ‘I just heard the coolest story’.”

Healing Words volunteers also make visits to local nursing homes. For several months, Jessica and Jacquelyn Ford have been going to the Oak Knoll nursing home not only to read to the residents, but also to play gospel music on the piano and sing along with them. According to Jessica, a UAB electrical engineering student, it is experiences like these that create a well-rounded student.

“College needs to be more than just academic work,” she said. “I want to get out and help other people. It is so easy to get caught up trying to make an ‘A’ in every class, but now I am happy making a ‘B.’ What is important is that I make time for other people; I want to be so driven or selfish that I can’t take time out for other people.”

Many of the books read during visits by Healing Words volunteers are donated by The Literacy Council, a non-profit organization with a mission to teach children and adults how to read in an effort to combat the local illiteracy problem. Additionally, The Literacy Council has provided financial support for Healing Words and training for those students interested in becoming a volunteer.

According to Gribben, Healing Words volunteers read with all age groups in many different situations, so the books that patients respond to varies depending on the patient’s age. Volunteers are trained to read stories that can engage the patients, but not pry into their personal lives.

“Older patients enjoy short stories by O. Henry and James Herriot, as well as selections from Chicken Soup for the Soul,” said Gribben. “Readers usually start younger patients off with Disney stories filled with plenty of illustrations. That way the children can feel comfortable with their favorite familiar tales. We actually encourage the children to read along with us and help us do the voices of characters. We love to make the kids part of the story.”

Although starting Healing Words seemed like a daunting task, Gribben proved that she was ready for the challenge.
“I admit when Valerie came to The Literacy Council a couple of years ago with her idea for the ‘Healing Words’ program, I was somewhat skeptical,” said Steve Hannum, provider services manager of The Literacy Council. “I knew from experience that for Healing Words to be successful, there would be an enormous amount of effort necessary to organize the program, recruit volunteers, establish relationships with hospitals and nursing homes, create a mission statement and budget and on and on and on. As the weeks followed, I became more and more impressed with Valerie, especially her work ethic and her contagious enthusiasm. It was apparent that she had a clear vision of what she knew she wanted to accomplish. It wasn’t long before I was totally on board. I now look forward to any opportunity to work with Valerie and her group of Healing Words volunteers. Healing Words is a tribute to Valerie’s enthusiasm and commitment.”

Gribben, who will be promoting her own book entitled The Fairytale Trilogy later this year, believes that Healing Words has been made possible by several sources of support.

“Healing Words has succeeded because of the support it has received from the Birmingham community. The Literacy Council trains our volunteers for free; Alpha Epsilon Delta Pre-Health Honor Society adopted our organization as an official community service activity; and a Girl Scout even conducted a book drive so that we could stock a new book cart at Children’s Hospital.”

For more information on becoming a Healing Words volunteer, visit www.uab.edu/healingwords.

 

Email: MAmaral@nrc.uab.edu