Your pronouns are an important part of your identity, much like your name. Transgender staff and volunteers at The Ottawa Hospital answer frequently asked questions about personal pronouns and explain how to use them respectfully.

A good self-kindness routine can help you reduce stress and hone your compassion for others. If you’re looking for inspiration, discover how our care staff have made self-kindness a lifestyle.

Maxime Bilodeau was inspired to volunteer with The Ottawa Hospital after spending time in the acute care and rehabilitation units. “I saw the work that a lot of the volunteers were doing. After I got discharged, as soon as I was able to, I started to volunteer,” he recalls.

Bao-Anh Vuong has been volunteering with The Ottawa Hospital since high school. Now, 10 years later, she is a nurse at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, and part of a team of experienced volunteers who recruit and onboard new volunteers.

For Jocelyn Niven, volunteering is a way of life. “It’s the way I was brought up,” she explains. “I come from an army family. My mum volunteered us for everything as far back as I remember.” Now a military veteran herself, Jocelyn is moderator of the hospital’s high school co-op program.

A cancer diagnosis is a life-changing event marked by uncertainty. Though each patient’s journey is different, volunteer Joanna Reid and The Ottawa Hospital’s Chemo Teach program give patients beginning chemotherapy an overview of what they can expect from their treatment.