Volunteer at Riley at IU Health

Volunteer Opportunities at Riley at IU Health

Volunteers are involved at Riley at IU Health in many ways, and shifts vary depending on the service area. Our greatest need for volunteers is Monday – Friday, 9 am – 1 pm or 1 pm – 5 pm. 

All volunteers are placed by Volunteer Services. We make an effort to place individuals in a position of their interests, depending on the availability of each position. Here are just a few examples of opportunities:

• Guide a Guest. Volunteers greet and welcome visitors in the hospital. Volunteers may also share information with visitors and patients, including directions on how to find hospital services, patients or staff. Guides provide wheelchairs/wagons to patients and visitors as needed.
• Child Life. Volunteers help our Child Life staff provide patients with play opportunities and activities that reduce stress and anxiety. They also support families and staff. This position requires experience working with children.
• Library. Volunteers can expect to do a variety of things in the library. Unique aspects of the job may include helping with celebrity readers, creating Riley Reading Time, taking pictures of books for Riley Reading Time and recording e-books. There may be opportunities to deliver items to patients, as well as teach patients how to use the online catalog and app. Evening and weekend volunteers take a library cart to the units with items for patients and families to check out. If you would like to read to patients the best time is in the afternoon, evening or weekend. Volunteers create displays and marketing materials and do other typical library activities.
• Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Limited opportunities are available in our NICUs for holding and rocking babies. Volunteers must complete a minimum service of six months to a year before they are eligible for service in our NICU and must demonstrate exceptional work ethic and dependability before being placed. We cannot always guarantee placement in our NICU’s even when the minimum service has been met. 
• Gift Shop Assistant. Volunteers assist team members by stocking and inventorying merchandise, assisting customers and creating a quality customer service environment. Strong customer service skills are essential, and extensive walking may be required.
• Pet Therapy. Pet owners who volunteer for this type of service are people who enjoy sharing the unique talents and abilities of their dogs with others. Learn more about volunteering with your dog by visiting our pet therapy program. 
• Family Advisors. These volunteers are parents of Riley at IU Health patients who help improve the hospital experience for others. Family Advisors can tell their story as Family Faculty to educate new staff, serve as parent to parent mentors, comment on proposed policies or programs as E-Advisors or Focus Group participants or serve as members of committees, work groups or councils, including the Pediatric Patient and Family Advisory Council. For more information, please email the Coordinator of Patient Experience at rileyfamilies@iuhealth.org.

Volunteer Requirements

In order to keep our staff, patients and volunteers safe, we have some requirements that all volunteers must meet in order to give service.

• Age. We accept volunteer applications from anyone 18 years of age and older who has graduated from high school.
• Time commitment. We ask all volunteers to commit to one shift per week that is typically 3-4 hours. The shift will be the same time and day each week to create consistency for both our staff and our volunteers. During the volunteer interview and on the application, we ask volunteer applicants to give an accurate list of times they will be available to give service on a weekly basis.
• Traditional volunteers. Traditional volunteers are individuals who are interested in a year-round volunteer opportunity. We ask that you commit to at least a 6-month period of the standard time commitment. Traditional volunteer applications will be accepted year-round on a rolling basis. We have monthly interviews and orientations to onboard these volunteers accordingly.
• College student/seasonal volunteers. College students/seasonal volunteers are interested in giving service during the Spring, Summer, or Fall semesters. If interested in a semester position, there is also the option to continue volunteering in the future. Please note the application deadlines below. In order to have all steps of the onboarding process completed before the expected start date, it is important to be timely in submitting your application.
  • Summer (May-August): Applications are accepted from Feb. 10-March 10
  • Fall (August-December): Applications are accepted from May 10-June 10
  • Spring (January-May): Applications are accepted from Oct. 10-Nov. 10
• Onboarding process. The onboarding process includes submitting an online application, attending an in-person interview, an employee health screening completed at Employee Occupational Health at the Methodist Towers in downtown Indianapolis, a background check, and attending an orientation on site.

Gifts of Service and One Time Group Volunteering Opportunities

Service Project opportunities are open to groups whose members are 18 years of age and older. For more details, please contact Volunteer Resources at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health at 317.944.8690 or rileyvolunteerdept@iuhealth.org.

How to Apply

Please be sure to read all opportunities and requirements for volunteers listed above before applying to become a volunteer at Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. Please do not submit an online application unless you plan to interview within the next three months.

You can apply for a position by completing an online application. Apply Now.