Volunteer Opportunities

We are proud to have volunteers as part of our community. Our volunteers provide your time, passion, talents, and dedication throughout our hospital and provide an extra dimension of care to our patients, their families, and visitors. Our volunteers are an integral part of the hospital team!

We seek volunteers who truly want to contribute to our community. Our volunteers are proactive, responsible adults who want to help us improve the patient experience. We have a wide variety of volunteer opportunities and we try to match you with the right one.

Contact Us
Mount Sinai Morningside
1111 Amsterdam Avenue at 114th Street
New York, NY 10025
Tel: (212) 523-2188
slrhcvolunteersrvs@chpnet.org

Volunteer Programs

We offer special volunteer programs for our patients. Some of these are:

Lobby Ambassadors are often the first face our patients and visitors see, welcoming people with a friendly smile and a great attitude; they are often the first face seen by guests who enter our facilities. As a lobby ambassador, you address questions, concerns, and requests from patients and visitors. You offer directions and sometimes escort patients so they arrive where they need to be quickly and safely.

Rounding Volunteers help us meet our patients’ non-clinical needs. They visit with patients, fulfill small requests, and help orient them to the hospital and unit.

Our Therapy Dog Program allows volunteers, whose dogs are qualified with an approved therapy dog organization, to engage with patients and staff throughout the hospital. We’ll need you to be at least 18 years old or older and must willing to commit to making at least two visits a month.

Junior Ambassadors are teenagers who work with hospital staff and become hospital representatives. Our Junior Ambassadors assist in the lobby and help out with clerical work.

Summer Junior Medical Program, or JuMP, allows 15- to 17-year-olds to learn from our health care professionals, in both clinical and nonclinical areas. You can watch the daily activities and responsibilities involved in running a hospital. To participate in this eight-week program, we need a 100-hour commitment.

Other Opportunities

There are other ways to help out, such as:

Donate current magazines.
Knit lap blankets (call for details).
Share your musical talents in patient rooms, accompanied by volunteer guides. These guides, who know the hospital, act as intermediaries between musicians and patients so you can focus on your performance. Please contact Musicians on Call.

Requirements and Expectations

To volunteer, you must have a valid social security number.

All volunteers must be 18 years old to participate (excluding Junior Ambassadors and participants in JuMP; these programs are designed for teens between 15 and 17.

To contribute to our volunteer program, we require a minimum time commitment. For Junior Ambassadors, we request at least 120 hours. In other programs, we schedule our volunteers for at least one shift (three hours) each week, for at least 150 hours.

JuMP is an eight-week program for students interested in health care who are willing to commit to 100 hours of volunteer work. The application process is the same as for other programs, though we can only accept application packets between January 1 and March 31. We have a limited number of slots.

How to Apply

To apply, please submit the following documents:

A completed Application Form
One letter of recommendation or completed reference form (not a relative)
A resume (recommended but not required)

Please submit the materials by fax, email, or in person. We will consider your application once we have all materials.

Application Process

Once we receive your application, we:

Review applications every two weeks to see whether we have a need that you can fill
Contact you by phone or email to let you know how the process is proceeding
If appropriate, we schedule an interview to discuss possible volunteer placements. This does not mean we will have an appropriate position for you.

It usually takes four to six weeks to complete this process.

If we invite you to join our volunteer team, you will need to complete the following:

Pre-Placement Medical Evaluation, to be completed by your physician. This is required by New York State Public Health Law.
Orientation: After you have read our Volunteer Handbook, you will take a quiz and attend an orientation in our offices. We will address hospital guidelines, regulations, policies, and procedures that are relevant to your role and provide appropriate training.