As a certified yoga and Reiki therapist, Sonia Sorrenti started volunteering with palliative care and oncology patients in 2017. When the call was made for volunteers to help run Beaumont’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic in January, she knew she had to help.
“I was inspired by all the brave frontliners that worked tirelessly, all year long, to serve others and to keep the community safe,” Sonia said. “When I started working at the clinic and witnessed how committed the team is to offer exceptional care to each patient, that inspiration kept growing. I am a privileged witness of this gigantic wave of kindness happening in our community; so many people, patients and caregivers, all working together in the effort of overcoming the pandemic.”
Sonia is a way finder at the clinic, helping patients navigate each step of the process and making sure their voices are heard, questions are answered, and smiles are returned. She said even though it may seem a monotonous and straightforward job, each brief encounter is a unique and up-lifting experience.
“No mask is big enough to conceal the smile and the hopeful gaze of the people I came across,” Sonia said. “And I have received words of gratitude from nearly each one of them. If I had a penny for each compliment about how well the clinic is run, I would be rich!”
2020 was especially challenging for Sonia and her family. She lost her mother to cancer and because of COVID
, family members were not allowed in the hospital. As a volunteer of No One Dies Alone, a program offering a friendly and supportive presence to patients at the end of life, this was especially heart breaking as she never thought someone from her
family would have to die alone without the comfort and loving presence of family.
“My life has changed this past year, in many different ways, but I have not changed,” Sonia said. “The piece of advice I would give myself looking back is still the same: just focus on what you can do to help and protect yourself and those around you. The rest will take care of itself, one day at the time.”
Sonia is grateful to have received the vaccine herself and she encourages others to do the same to make social life safe again and protect the members of our community. She also looks forward to her teenage children becoming eligible soon.
“I feel lucky to be living in 2021 and not 1918, when the roll-out of the vaccine would have taken years,” she said. “I’m thankful for the great scientific and technological innovations
over the recent years what have gotten us here.”