A warm welcome where it matters

Right next to the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (AVL) is a special house. Not a hospital, not a hotel, but a home. The AVL-Gasthuis offers patients and their loved ones an affordable place to stay during a treatment period. Edith and Martine work together there every other Sunday evening. “The work still gives me so much satisfaction. At such moments, you can mean that little bit extra for someone.”

The AVL is a hospital and research institute specialized in cancer that treats patients from all over the Netherlands. Family members and loved ones travel from afar to be close by. The Guest House originated from a simple but crucial insight: there should be a place where loved ones can stay without having to bear the costs of a hotel. The house operates with three part-time employees and no less than 75 volunteers. They work in four different shifts spread throughout the day and evening. There is no subsidy. The income mainly comes from the room rates – modest, around 45 euros per night – supplemented by donations. Sometimes in cash, sometimes in kind. For example, the uncle of a volunteer, who is an electrician, checks all the lighting for free. Another volunteer gets sponsored for the Guest House during the Four Days Marches.

It has brought me a lot.

The Gasthuis has a special appeal for volunteers. For Edith, it all started thirteen years ago when she missed the buzz of colleagues as a freelancer. “I wanted to be part of an organization as a solo worker and do something meaningful outside,” she says. As a former patient of the AVL, she also wanted to give something back. The Gasthuis turned out to be the perfect place: close to the people, but with just enough distance from the hospital itself.

Martine worked ten years ago at a commercial company where she missed a sense of purpose. “I searched on the website of the volunteer center to see if volunteering would be something for me. Unfortunately, I have dealt with cancer a lot in my family, so the vacancy at the Gasthuis immediately appealed to me. I applied, and the work has given me so much. Valuable conversations with patients and their loved ones, Edith as a wonderful colleague, and through the Gasthuis, I even ended up in my current job as a communication advisor at the AVL.”

She has no intention of stopping her volunteer work. The stories she hears on Sunday evenings about how people experience their treatment are valuable baggage she takes with her to her work in the hospital. Thus, both women, one after thirteen years and the other after ten, have become inextricably linked to the house.

Antennae

Guests come here in a turbulent phase of their lives, and their needs vary greatly. One wants to share their story at check-in, another prefers to head straight to their room as quickly as possible, and yet another enjoys chatting about something completely different. This means you need to be attuned to who needs what.

Martine indicates that she leads a busy life, with a family, a job, and on top of that, the Gasthuis: “The fact that I am still doing this work after 10 years says enough. I always drive home after a shift with a sense of fulfillment. Grateful for the small bit you can mean for someone at that moment.” Edith adds: “The variety makes it enjoyable. Different people, different stories, different anecdotes every shift. Tension, sadness, and humor, it can all be present.” And the fact that they can work well together also helps. The organization also pays attention to good matches of volunteers. At ten o’clock, Edith and Martine close the door behind them. There is no night porter. “Then we always say to the guests who are still downstairs: ‘We are going home. Would you please turn off the lights and candles when you go to your room, just like at home?’” And that is exactly what the Gasthuis wants to be: a home.

Do you also want to discover what volunteering can offer you?

Hundreds of possibilities, what makes you happy?! Check it out all volunteer jobs onlineoffind your match in one conversation – We are happy to help you on your way!

Interview: Timo Maassen
Photos: Peter Lange