Facilitating the End of an Era

I am a DVS. We have already begun the process of ending the era of a 52 year Auxiliary. Before reading your article, I was hoping our approach was correct and you validated that. What a relief!! My questions are, do you have an organizational chart or a comparison chart that shows the pros and cons? What did the "new model" you refer to look like? Thank you for a very timely paper. Although I have been the director for 20 years and we have a different situation than the one you documented, the issues are the same. I'm sorry I missed the California Conference. Had I known the topic, I probably would have gone to get some additional tips. We are still maintaining "Confidentiality" at this point. Therefore, I would appreciate leaving my identity anonymous.

The pros and cons of the old model were discussed in the design meeting when the group looked at the 4 possible models. (One model was not to change at all.) The implications of all four models were discussed. The key was asking the three questions in the article: What would be missing if we did not change? (Answers mostly came from the information I gave them regarding trends and information gathered from recent assessments of the auxiliary.) Because of their attachment to the auxiliary (50 plus years) they also discussed what elements in the current program were vital to carry over to a new model and finally, if they had an opportunity to start a new volunteer program in a new hospital, what would it look like. Each group opted for the new model which would no longer have an auxiliary structure but rather an open volunteer program (non-membership) with a Manager of Volunteer Services who was dedicated to that position only. The current transition model includes an 8 member implementation advisory council(for one year) made up of the leaders of the major areas of hospital volunteering. Thus, some of the previous board members of the auxiliary are now on an advisory task force to work with the new Manager of Volunteer Services to develop the new model. The new program will interview all candidates for all positions (including people currently holding the positions) and after major training and policy development occurs, there will be major new volunteer position development and an extensive outreach to the community for new volunteers. Only 3 auxiliary members have left and it was due to illness, not because of the change. The auxiliary members are now relieved of finding people to lead the auxiliary which had basically become a recycling of members into the board of the auxiliary. The hospital administration is delighted with the new program because of concerns of liability in the previous model (no interviewing for positions, just "Who will take it?" approach) and infusion of many new volunteers to give service to many new areas of the hospital. In the auxiliary model (only previous way to volunteer in the hospital) there were the 4 traditional positions. The new model is evolving so no organizational chart yet.