Volunteer at Santa Monica Facilities

Welcome Prospective Volunteer!

UCLA Health volunteers are exceptional individuals who give back to their community.  These individuals donate their time and share their talents throughout our hospitals, administrative, and patient care areas, bringing a special personal touch to our patients and families.

The volunteer program at UCLA began in 1955, just a few months after the Medical Center in Westwood officially opened. Our mission is to deliver leading edge patient care, research and education. Our vision is to heal humankind, one patient at a time, by improving health, alleviating suffering, and delivering acts of kindness.  Our values ensure integrity, compassion, respect, teamwork, excellence and discovery in the work we do daily.  The role of the volunteer is not to replace, but to supplement the regular professional staff, enabling them to provide the best medical, nursing and support services to our patients.

UCLA Health Santa Monica Medical Center was founded in 1926, and UCLA purchased the hospital in 1995.  The hospital has a long-standing tradition of community care and offers the expertise of a world-class academic health system in a patient-friendly community setting.

UCLA Health volunteers are a unique group of individuals aged 16+ with different abilities and motivations behind their interest in volunteering. Our volunteers share a mutual passion and commitment to help others and are appreciated by patients and staff in the course of their volunteer duties. 

UCLA Health volunteers have earned an outstanding reputation for their consistently high level of professionalism; our volunteers uphold our reputation by maintaining high standards and excellence by bringing their experience, talents, and enthusiasm to their roles. As a UCLA Health volunteer, we hope you will experience the special pleasure that comes from giving of yourself to help others.

Sincerely,

Volunteer Services Staff at UCLA Health Santa Monica Medical Center

Choose to Make a Difference

When you choose to volunteer at UCLA Health, you become a vital part of a vibrant healthcare resource in the heart of Santa Monica. We are rich with history, innovation and achievement. Science in the laboratory becomes practice at the bedside, pioneering medical techniques are advances, and lives are transformed.

Who can volunteer?

Anyone age 16 years and older may apply to become a volunteer. Our volunteers are compromised of high school and college students, recent retirees, people looking for a career change, or those with a small block of free time who want to help make the lives of others more comfortable. What our volunteers have in common is that they want to be challenged, and in rising to those presented challenges, create a world of difference for our health system.

What is the time commitment?

Most volunteers have a 2-4 hour shift weekly (no more than 6 hours daily, or 20 hours per week), and different programs have different hour requirements, with 100 total hours being the most common requirement.

How do I get started?

Please click the link below that best applies to you.

• Mattel Youth Ambassador Program
• General Student Programs
• Ambassador (Non-student Program)

Volunteer Office Closures 2025