When her grandfather was hospitalized at Trillium, Samantha Moraes noticed that many of the other elderly patients didn’t have visitors.

“I decided that if I could volunteer as a visitor, it would make a difference in at least a few lives.”

She visits patients at the McCall Centre or in rehab every Saturday, and spends time with them, talking to them about things that interest them like their family or telling them about her own life as a way of beginning a conversation.

“Being in a hospital can be a harrowing experience without someone to talk to,” she says.

A couple of months ago, Samantha experienced the loss of a patient, a woman in her late 80s she had been visiting for more than a year.  “It was a hard not seeing her the following day.  I used to always stop by to see her.  She had become a really good friend.”

Even so, she has no plans to change her routine.

“I enjoy being with the older patients -  it’s like talking to my grandparents and I really like that.”