A volunteer hospital worker who offered her services through the pandemic has had her efforts recognised after she scooped an NHS award.
Modest Chiara Galimberti told the Express she got more back from the experience than she gave after signing up as a volunteer at Paisley's Royal Alexandra Hospital, saying: "It helped me through the pandemic too because everyone at the RAH is so nice and I was going there volunteering, life continued."
Chiara, who has lived in Paisley since 2019, answered the call for volunteers to shore up the NHS when Coronavirus hit after being inspired by the impact of the outbreak in her home country.
Italy was badly hit by Coronavirus early on in the pandemic.
And she was recognised at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's Excellence Awards this week.
The 45-year-old scooped the title in the Volunteer category, designed to recognise those who have gone the extra mile by "contributing tirelessly and providing outstanding help and support for the benefit of others".
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NHS GGC Pandemic Response Volunteer Chiara moved to the UK from her home close to Turin in Northern Italy.
She arrived in England in 2014, living in London and on the Isle of Wight before heading north to Glasgow and finally settling in Paisley and the town has quickly won her heart.
She says: "I lived in London but it was a big city and I eventually came to Glasgow and then moved to Paisley. Paisley is close to my heart because it's a great town, it's big but not as big as others and the people are lovely.
"At the start of the pandemic they were looking for volunteers. My mum is a retired nurse and I was watching the news and I knew something was happening in China. Nobody realised it was so widespread already and then my mum was telling me that at home they were starting to shut down the schools and public places. Italy was quite bad."
So when the call came to help the NHS in Scotland, Chiara, who was already volunteering with her church, decided to lend a hand.
She started helping out at the RAH in March 2020 and continued. She said: "My Catholic faith has been a drive of paramount importance to my decision of joining the volunteering services at the beginning of the pandemic. I felt, and feel, that I should do something to help my community.
"I wanted to do something to help and I volunteered at the RAH. At the beginning I was helping with documents in the office and then we started a project to do coffee and tea for staff because the cafeteria was closed and then I moved on to the wards."
She has also helped lift the spirits of patients, running personal items and supplies to the wards when visitors were banned due to covid regulations.
NHS bosses say Chiara has been the keystone of the RAH Pandemic Support Volunteer team, helping with whatever tasks were needed to "support the patients and staff throughout the most difficult of times", including in "PPE distribution, and donations deliveries but the role in which she is most well-known is at the RAH Staff R & R Hub".
Volunteer Manager Harry Balch paid tribute to her efforts, saying: "Chiara is a much loved and valued member of the team; she has boundless compassion and a non-judgmental, sunny nature that is so apparent in her engagement with the patients and staff; her kind and welcoming manner were a huge support to all of us at during the toughest days of the pandemic.
"She has been our rock at the RAH and has really helped all of us through the toughest of times, just by being her. We can never thank Chiara enough for the way she has supported us."
And her work was given the ultimate accolade when she was honoured during the awards - held for the first time online - when staff and volunteers were brought together for board bosses to recognise their commitment and dedication during the unprecedented pandemic and through the ongoing aftermath.
The 'Celebrating Success' awards were the first for two years due to the pandemic, hosted by National Clinical Director Jason Leitch and attended by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Humza Yousaf.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Chairman, John Brown added his thanks, saying: "The last time we held a ‘Celebrating Success’ success event, it was November 2019. We hadn’t even heard of Covid-19.
"The world has changed beyond all recognition since then and our staff have been at the forefront of that change and that challenge. I could not be prouder of each and every one of them."
He added: "The awards are about recognising the efforts a few ‘shining stars’; teams and individuals who have gone the extra mile in the most challenging of circumstances. People were scared, people were tired, they were hot from wearing PPE and they worried about their families as well as their patients.
"But they turned up, did their very best and did it all over again, day in, day out. Our annual celebration event has never had more meaning and even though we were not together in person, it was the most special by far."
Seven main awards were handed out in total – reflecting the key aims of the organisation -Better Care, Better Health, Better Value, Better Workplace, Nursing and Volunteer categories and the Global Citizenship award.
But delighted Chiara was astounded to win, she said: "I am totally dazed and dizzy, it's too much emotion. I would like to say thanks a lot from the bottom of my heart to all the lovely people at the RAH and in Paisley."
For details on all the winners, please visit: www.nhsggc.scot/celebratingsuccess
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