A graduate student of DNGL program at the Graduate School of Nursing University of Kochi, Hastoro Dwinantoaji, was honored with the Outstanding Volunteer Award in a ceremony in the 16th General Assembly Kochi Health Sciences Center Volunteer Group ‘Harmony Kochi’ that held in the Kochi Health Sciences Center on March 25, 2018. The ‘Harmony Kochi’ is a hospital-based volunteer group actively working in the Kochi Health Science Center. This time the special commendation was awarded to the top five volunteers by the director of Kochi Health Sciences Center who will retire at the end of this March, Dr. Kikkawa, in honor of their hard work and dedication to the hospital while in the busy schedules.


"While studying at the university, Hastoro-san has been volunteering since June 2015 in several times on Thursday to guide patients and their families who are new to the hospitalization and often provide library services to the patient's rooms, too. He has made our clients feel welcome, helped them adapt and taken them under his wing to support them", said a manager of the ‘Harmony Kochi’.


Hastoro mentioned in his speech that as a student of the DNGL program from Indonesia, this is a great honor and it gives him strength and inspiration for future study on understanding the motivation and performance of community health volunteers (health cadres) involved in the disaster preparedness activity program in Indonesia. A motivation for volunteering depends on a wide variety of variables including demographic background, the context of an organization, personal interest and many other rewards. The willingness of local people to volunteer is critical for the success of community-based disaster preparedness implementation.