Doris Lien, 80, spends her days in and out of the hospital. Because Lien suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, better known as COPD, she needs help getting through everyday tasks, such as walking and breathing. That’s where Joy Mahoney comes in.

Mahoney is a volunteer with HELP, the Hospital Elder Life Program, at Methodist Health. She’s there once a week, and what looks like small talk actually serves a greater purpose.

Video: Program connects volunteers with older patients

“It’s designed to help reduce, eliminate or prevent delirium,” Mahoney said. “A lot of people think it’s similar to dementia, but it’s different. Delirium is a rapid onset in a change of mental state. It could be confusion or anxiety. Basically, they’ll start to act like somebody they haven’t been before.”

So HELP volunteers spend time with patients doing the things they’ve always enjoyed.

“We can play games, cards, also read the newspaper to them,” Mahoney said.

For Lien, it’s a nice break from the norm.

“It’s nice to interact with someone that’s not family that you can talk other things over,” Lien said.

For volunteers like Mahoney, the program teaches patience.

“We live in such a society that’s go, go, go. You have to take time to slow down and not get frustrated,” Mahoney said.

It’s something Methodist teaches all its volunteers during orientation.

“They would tape our fingers together or put rice in our shoes. That way we could feel how it is to be a patient with neuropathy,” Mahoney said. “I’m getting way more out of this program that I thought I ever would.

To learn more about the program, visit: http://bestcare.org/methodist-hospital/about/volunteers/