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Peer Visitor Program
Peer Visitors are trauma survivors; having survived their own personal traumatic experiences and injuries.
The MetroHealth Peer Visitor program offers patients and their loved ones an opportunity to talk with a trained volunteer during their hospital stay.
The Peer Visitor program has been a standard of care at the MetroHealth System since 2013.
In 2019 alone, MetroHealth Peer Visitors donated nearly 600 volunteer hours and completed over 650 visits to patients and their loved ones.
If interested in becoming a Peer Visitor, please contact 216-778-8199 or email [email protected] for more information.
Benefits of Meeting a Peer Visitor Include:
- Sharing an experience with someone who can directly relate to what you are going through
- Offering hope, wisdom, and perspective
- Learning practical tips on moving forward
- Receiving encouragement and support
- Getting answers to questions from the perspective of someone who has ‘been there’
- Feeling less anxious, afraid, and alone
- Peer Visitors can serve as positive role models for future recovery
Meet a Few of Our Peer Visitors Below:
Mark Kalina
There is no “how-to” book for redefining one’s life after trauma. If there were, Mark would be the one to write it.
Nan Reilly
Nan has good reason to believe in miracles. She is alive because of a series of them.
Jennifer Scibana
“You can’t let the trauma define you. You have to let it go, move past it. It doesn’t define you.”
Amy Vitelli
As a MetroHealth employee who is also a trauma survivor, Amy Vitelli has first-hand knowledge of the lifesaving care that MetroHealth provides every day.
Pete Soto
For Pete, can’t was never part of the plan.
Helping Others Recover
A group of over fifteen survivors volunteer as Peer Visitors. The experiences and injuries these survivors have overcome vary, but above all, each is dedicated to helping others recover.
Peer Visitor Program