Where are the candy stripers?

Nurses General Nursing

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Early in my nursing career I remember seeing candy stripers around the hospitals, reading to patients, passing out magazines,and just spending time with them. It was a great oppurtunity for young people to come into the hospital and get a feel for nursing. But now that I think about it, I havent seen candy stripers in a long time. Maybe its the name (and uniform) thats obsolete, because obviously hospitals still have volunteers. Does anyone work at a place where they actually still utilize candy stripers?:nurse:

Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

I was a candy striper about 30 years ago..haven't seen one since

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Specializes in Med-surg.

The hospital I work at does not have "candy stripers" but has adult volunteers, teenage volunteers, and also volunteers with special needs.

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Specializes in LTC, OB/GYN, Primary Care.

I had a friend in high school (about 5 yrs ago) who was a candy striper and she DID wear a stripey uniform

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They have candy strippers at the Catholic hospitals still, where I live there are two such hospitals. The girls wear the candy striped skirt with what looks to be suspenders, but actually are the same fabric as their skirts, white button down blouse and the boys wear a candy strip jacket with white pants, both wear white shoes and socks. Their uniforms are ironed crisply and whatever is white is bright white. They hand out magazines, visit with patients, and I saw a few transporting patients in wheelchairs. I spoke with a girl not too long ago, told her I had not seen a candy striper in years. She said almost all of the candy stripers are from Catholic schools at least at the two hospitals I spoke of.

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Specializes in LTC.

I was a candy striper(spell check wants me to make this stripper lol) at a local hospital here a couple years ago. I volunteered on a telemetry unit. The director of volunteers gave me a great reference and all the interviews I've been on, the interviewer complimented me volunteering.

Basically I filed papers into charts, ran errands for the unit clerk all over the hospital, go around to the patients and say hello, wheel them down to the lobby when being discharged.

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This has been fun to read.

Forty years ago for me. Thin stripe pinafore dress with white blouse. Director of Volunteers was a RN and knew that I wanted to be a nurse; after a while she gave me really fabulous assignments in clinical areas.

I remember the Pink Ladies.

We have Junior Volunteers. They wear polo shirts with logo. A large majority of them are children of employees.

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No more Candy Stripers :-( - I think I still have my Barbie candy striper jumper though. The Barbie of today wouldn't be caught dead in that outfit.

Mostly the volunteers are elderly ladies now. I remember being a volunteer at age 17. We wore a peach-colored jumper over a white blouse with "Josette" embroidered on there for St Joseph's Hospital. Many patients would call us "Josette" and think that was about the funniest thing they ever came up with.

I learned all my mad wheelchair pushing skillz as a volunteer. :)

I think you should take a photo of Barbie in her candy striper jumper and make that your avatar :)

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I was an ER volunteer for 2 years. Volunteers ranged in age from 16-80s, and we all wore blue blazers. Duties depended on the department, but I passed out a lot of magazines, escorted visitors, and made coffee.

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Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

I had the pinafore dress and white blouse, hose and white shoes in the 70s. I still have the dress in a closet somewhere.

When I worked in registration, they would have me take the ladies in labor upstairs in a wheelchair, while also carrying the suitcase. Looking back, what were they thinking? a 14 year old alone in the elevator with a woman about to give birth?? :eek:

We have Volunteens sometimes, not many though. They wear a striped vest.

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

I was a candy striper some 20+ years ago too. They used to let me feed the patients! Looking back I'm amazed. But it was a good experience that let me see some of what healthcare was like.

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I was a candy striper from 1996-2000 at a Catholic hospital. We didn't wear the striped jumper but we did have a red and white striped smock that we wore over khakis and a polo.

I'm shocked what the hospital let us do back then. Between the ages of 14 and 16 I was allowed to staff the information desk, cashier in the gift shop and deliver flowers. From 16-18 I was allowed to transport patients being discharged in a wheelchair, pass meal trays and ice water, take samples to the lab, pick up meds from pharmacy and occupy pediatric patients who did not have a parent staying with them/answer call lights on the peds floor.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I think you should take a photo of Barbie in her candy striper jumper and make that your avatar :)

I think I will!! That particular closet is way overdue for a cleaning out anyway. . .

There's still a few teen volunteers in the hospitals around here, but I haven't seen that distinctive red & white striped uniform since I last wore one (almost 20 years ago!).

The name and uniform may no longer exist, but a google image search shows me that the concept of candy stripers still live on... just a lot more "adult" than I remember :eek:

. . .lol yep. . .wonder how some of them made it past Safe-Search . . .:uhoh21:

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