9 hours Ago By By Amanda Davis [email protected]
Newman Regional Volunteers gathered at the Clint Bowyer Building Wednesday morning to celebrate 70 years of the volunteer program, an initiative that has donated nearly $700,000 to the hospital since its inception. The volunteer program kicked off in 1955 when Mary Louise Newman, the wife of George Newman's grandson, the namesake of the hospital, was elected as the first president of the Auxiliary. According to a press release sent by Newman, volunteers baked pies for geriatric wards, sewed cancer dressings, raised funds to renovate the nurses’ quarters, and funded the creation of the snack bar.
Today, 84 active Newman Regional Volunteers regularly answer questions at the front desk, sit with ailing patients, and operate the gift shop, snack bar, and other points of contact. Volunteers regularly fund nursing scholarships, and since 2005 have provided over $150,000. Deborah Storrer, Newman Volunteer Coordinator, said that volunteers are often there for patients in their worst moments.
“People don't usually come to the hospital because they want to,” Storrer said. “They come because they have to. The volunteers are those smiling faces, friendly greetings that are willing to serve, willing to help, and willing to be a listening ear.
” Storrer recounted a story of one volunteer of seven or eight years aiding a girl who entered the hospital looking for the Emergency Room. When she learned that she had accidentally gone into the Patient Tower entrance, the girl burst into tears, The volunteer guided her over to the ER. “The volunteer was just floored,” Storrer said.
“She went, ‘I've been here for years, and I've never done anything like that.’ During the next three weeks, she ended up hugging four or five people from similar situations, and it had a huge impact on her.” Erin Reece, Community Liaison and Volunteer Coordinator for Hand In Hand Hospice, arranges volunteers to spend time with hospice volunteers in the local community.
The volunteers sit with hospice patients, allowing caretakers time to run errands and attend appointments. “When you're a caretaker for someone in hospice, you often can't just get up and go and run to the grocery store,” Reece said. “You have to have someone there to watch them and be with the loved one.
Our volunteers are fantastic, and they go out and they provide companionship. They'll play music with them, they'll play cards with them, and they're really making a positive difference in our community.” Cathay Rungee began volunteering for Hand In Hand Hospice after retiring from a career as a hospice nurse.
She felt compelled to join the program as a way to continue her nursing work in a different capacity. Rungee sits with patients and keeps them company with card games, conversation, and meals. “You can read with them, play cards with them, go through photos, evoke memories to try to get them to talk about the past,” Rungee said.
“A lot of times, they remember events from the past better than they do the current events. It really helps to get them to talk about things like that and their family.” If anyone is interested in volunteering, feel free to contact Storrer at 620-343-6800, extension 22525.
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