Dear editor:
If you are sitting and pondering your life's direction, I have a suggestion for you. Join the CHI St. Vincent's Auxiliary volunteer team. As an 11-year volunteer, I love what I do. The camaraderie and help we provide is amazing. There is nothing better than the giving of yourself to help others. We have fun and make other's feel better.
There are tons of positions you can choose from: the gift and uniform shop, the information desk and couriers who push departing patients from their rooms. We have computer office workers, card senders, outpatient volunteers and people who work up in the maternity ward and the surgical waiting room assisting family's needs. There are computer trainers, cart drivers, workers at the Cancer and Heart centers and Meals on Wheels drivers. We have a Mercy Closet of donated items that are sold and provide funding to buy sweats for patients that need clothes. A shift is a mere four hours. You can do more, if you chose to.
Let me brag about our accomplishments. We have donated $175,000 toward the Mobile Mammogram bus that travels to outside areas, where it is difficult for some to make the trip to our hospital for Breast Care. We gave $175,000 toward the DaVinci Robotic Surgical Unit. We have donated moneys toward remodeling the outpatient area and have pledged $500,000 for the creation of maternity suites.
We give baby car seats, homemade baby hats, heart pillows and blankets to the Cooper Advocacy Center. We have a Mercy Lodge for those who cannot drive back and forth for daily appointments. The list goes on and on. We are not small potatoes and make a huge impact on the community under the excellent leadership of Susan Rima, our volunteer coordinator.
If you feel called to serve, call Susan at 501-622-1033. We need you. What you receive in satisfaction is so much greater than what you give. Please consider sharing yourself for the betterment of others. It is a gift of giving of yourself and very rewarding.
Thank you and God bless.
Janet Mauk
Hot Springs
Editorial on 08/16/2018