Memorial Hospital honors Auxiliary
Memorial Hospital Auxiliary Officers, 2011: Standing, left to right, Aurelia Hagin, Recording Secretary; Kaye Perrett, Corresponding Secretary; and Peter Psikogios, Vice President; seated, left to right, Linda Wosiewicz, Treasurer; Sandra Rhodes, President; and Rena Krol, Parliamentarian.
Memorial honored its Auxiliary with a luncheon and awards ceremony on January 25 at the Hollywood Casino and Hotel in Bay St. Louis. Diane Gallagher, Vice-President, Marketing and Planning, and Linda McCulloch, Volunteer Services Coordinator, presented the awards.
The following officers were installed for 2011: Sandra Rhodes, President; Peter Psikogios, Vice President; Aurelia Hagin, Recording Secretary; Kaye Perrett, Corresponding Secretary; Linda Wosiewicz, Treasurer; and Rena Krol, Parliamentarian.
Memorial Hospital volunteers lend valuable service in the Gift Shop, Surgery Information Desk, Second Floor ICU, Fifth Floor Tower ICU, Flower Delivery Service, Patient Escort Service, Emergency Department, Cardiac Catheterization Lab Information Desk, and Pet Therapy Partners. In 2010, the Memorial Hospital Auxiliary donated over $119,000 towards various Memorial projects.
Anderson Regional elects new auxiliary board
Anderson Regional Medical Center’s Volunteer Auxiliary Members show off their new smocks, along with Suzette Partridge, Director of Volunteer Services (center).
Anderson Regional Medical Center’s Volunteer Auxiliary recently held a meeting in which recognition was given to outgoing officers and newly elected officers were announced.
Mrs. Suzette Partridge, Director of Volunteer Services, presented the outgoing officers, Laura Jordan, Jim Autry and Pat Kalinowski, with a gift to express appreciation for their hard work and dedication.
New officers were announced as follows: Pat Maloney, President; Rosy Jones, Vice President; Pat Branning, Secretary; E.C. Bancroft, Treasurer.
All Auxiliary members received a new smock to wear while volunteering, so as to be easily recognized by patients and visitors.
Mrs. Partridge announced that Jim Autry was named Volunteer of the Year.
The Volunteer Auxiliary was organized in 1982 with the goal of “giving help where help is needed”. The Jeff Anderson Volunteer Auxiliary activities include donating funds to the Meridian Community College Nursing Program. Auxiliary members provide an invaluable service to the hospital by staffing the information desk, assisting with hospital activities/events, delivering mail and flowers, providing layettes to the Nursery, and assisting families in the waiting rooms for ICU, CCU, Surgery and Labor & Delivery. The Auxiliary also helps with many community projects such as The Lions Club Eye Glass Project, The American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life Survivors Walk, provides donations to Hope Village for Children, Coats for Kids, Angel Tree, Shop With A Cop, and the Cancer Patient Benevolence Fund.
Currently the Auxiliary has 40 members. Honorary charter members include: Thelma Buie, Dorothy Y. Gleason and Emma Griffin.
Meadow Grove volunteers honored by Friends of Mississippi State Hospital
Pictured are the Meadow Grove Volunteers along with Friends of MSH President Bill Bobbs and MSH Director James G. Chastain.
Friends of the Mississippi State Hospital presented the second annual Vivian Shivers Award to the Meadow Grove volunteer organization during the Friends annual meeting on Wednesday, August 25.
The award honors the individual or group who represents the volunteer spirit and sets the standard for future generations. It is named in honor of the late Ms.Vivian Shivers, who began her career as an RN at MSH in 1976. She went on to serve in the Jaquith Nursing Home, and continued volunteering with the Friends of MSH organization after her retirement in 1987.
The Meadow Grove volunteers are primarily from Meadow Grove Baptist Church, in Brandon, but the group also includes members from several different churches and groups, and there are several Mississippi State Hospital retirees in the group as well. They volunteer once a month all throughout the year.
“Their tasks are always different and include things like stuffing envelopes for mail-outs, curling ribbons and filling candy packages for patient Christmas bags, but there is always one constant, and that is a lot of laughter and fellowship,” MSH Director James G. Chastain said. “Once a year they combine their efforts with volunteers from Broadmoor Baptist Church and prepare all 1200 fruit bags that are delivered to patients and residents on Santa Day.
“For outstanding service and a continued commitment to MSH, I am honored to present the Vivian Shivers Volunteer Award to the Meadow Grove Volunteers.”
Flo Upton accepted the award on behalf of her group. Chastain said her group’s spirit of giving is in the same tradition as Ms. Vivian Shivers, who spent time serving as both president and vice-president of the Friends organization, was active on numerous committees and routinely volunteered at special events and activities.
River Oaks and Woman's Hospitals Announce 2010 Volunteer of the Year
(From L-R) Paul Pieffer, Chief Operating Officer; Lucy Cox, Volunteer of the Year; Mary Lynn Davis, Coordinator of Guest Services and the Volunteer Auxiliary
River Oaks Hospital and Woman’s Hospital recently honored their most outstanding volunteer by hosting a special recognition luncheon. Receiving votes from her peers, Lucy Cox was awarded Volunteer of the Year for 2010. Ms. Cox has volunteered at the hospitals for fourteen years and has approximately 10,000 volunteer hours.
As a volunteer Ms. Cox escorts patients throughout the hospital and assists in discharging patients from the hospital. She also serves as president of the River Oaks Volunteer Auxiliary.
Mary Lynn Davis, Coordinator of Guest Services and the Volunteer Auxiliary, described Ms. Cox as dedicated and encouraging. “Her sense of humor can easily help patients and their families forget their troubles. She knows when to sympathize, when to say something funny, and when simply to listen.”
In addition to her many duties as volunteer, Ms. Cox leads a very active life away from the hospital. She not only volunteers at River Oaks but also at her church and within her retirement community.
Wesley Medical Center Honors Volunteers and Announces Volunteer of the Year
Wesley Medical Center recently announced their 2010 Volunteer of the Year during a luncheon to recognize the 110 volunteers who served more than 29,000 hours during the 2009 calendar year.
Joan Harper was chosen as the 2010 Volunteer of the Year. Mrs. Harper began her service at Wesley by attending “Chain Gang” meetings. The "Chain Gang" is of a group of women who knit and sew hats, blankets and booties, bassinet covers, rocking chair pads, pillows for the NICU babies and other patients at the hospital. The originator of the group, Peggy Peddicord, moved out of town after organizing the group. But Joan Harper stepped in to become the new leader of the group, expanding the name to the “Chain Gang, Sew ‘n Sews and Knit Wits.” Under her leadership, the group has expanded to 40 members. They now have monthly Saturday meetings at the hospital where sewing machines and sergers are brought in and the women sew and knit for hours.
Mrs. Harper became a regular Wesley volunteer in November of 2007, and has accumulated 2,386 hours of service to-date.
Joan is not new to volunteer work, having volunteered for the Red Cross for 10 years. She was a coordinator of records and reports and she and her husband were sent on many assignments during their tenure. She served in New York City after September 11th, and she and her husband did several tours of duty on the eastern seaboard, particularly, giving aid after hurricanes. Joan is currently a Sunday School Department Director at Main Street Baptist Church, which is a natural progression from her professional life where she taught elementary school for 17 years, first in Corpus Christie, TX, and, later, in Oak Grove when her husband was transferred to this area.
She handles all the recordkeeping for the “Chain Gang, Sew ‘n Sews, Knit Wits”, by tallying hours and items and keeping up with addresses and news about the members. Some members do their handcraft at home and bring, or send, their work to the hospital. As part of her regular volunteer service, Joan volunteers in the NICU, which gives her insight into the needs of that department.
Last fall, the group decided that it would be helpful to have funds for materials and decided on a handcraft sale for hospital employees, patients and visitors. The group expanded their items to include hats, afghans, scarves, potato bags, gadget bags, shawls, heat/cold therapy rice bags, children’s jumpers, plastic bag holders, hats, blankets, and sweaters. Joan kept the inventory for all the items brought and the prices that were agreed upon, and their efforts raised $1,400.
Joan receives a great deal of help and support from her husband of almost 53 years, James who is also a regular volunteer and works at the hospital’s front lobby desk greeting guests, giving directions and assisting patients and visitors. The couple has two children, Donna and Joe Lee, and three grandchildren, Eric, Kimberly and Timothy. Joan and James are high school classmates and just returned from a Texas trip where they celebrated the Class of ‘55’s 55th Reunion where all 11 of the remaining classmates were present.
Nominations now accepted for MHA's 2010 Volunteers of the Year
The MHA Society for Hospital Auxiliaries and Volunteer Services focuses on honoring special volunteers from hospital councils from across the state. Last year, 136 auxilians met at the Jackson Hilton to honor 21 outstanding auxilians and volunteers.
This program gives each MHA member hospital auxiliary/volunteer program an opportunity to submit one outstanding volunteer who will be honored at the state level. Each honoree will be recognized at the annual meeting - featured in a Power Point presentation and in a booklet of outstanding volunteers. All honorees will receive a copy of the Volunteer of the Year booklet and a Volunteer of the Year lapel pin.
We believe this approach provides an excellent means to highlight the outstanding contributions of Mississippi’s hospital volunteers and will keep the issue of volunteerism before our members and the communities they serve. MHA has been honoring its volunteers in this way for more than a decade.
The 2010 Annual Meeting of the MHA Society for Hospital Auxiliaries and Volunteer Services will be held November 4, 2010, at the Hilton Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi.
A nomination form is attached below. For more information, contact Robin Powell at (800) 289-8884, (601) 368-3214 or rpowell@mhanet.org.
