MedWest-Harris and MedWest-Swain volunteers honored for their 28,000 service hours this past year and more than 150 years of collective service
7/12/2012
MedWest-Harris and MedWest-Swain volunteers honored for their 28,000 service hours this past year and more than 150 years of collective service
Sylva and Bryson City, N.C. – Volunteers gave more than 28,000 hours of service this past year and collectively more than 150 years of service to MedWest-Harris and MedWest-Swain and were recognized for their efforts at a recent Volunteer Appreciation Celebration at MedWest-Harris.
MedWest-Harris/Swain President Steve Heatherly thanked hospital volunteers for their service at the reception June 14 in the main lobby of MedWest-Harris and described volunteerism as “an expression of love to our hospitals and, more importantly, to the patients we have the honor of serving.”
“Thanks to all of those who volunteer at our hospitals and devote countless hours of service to our organization,” Heatherly said. “Those we honor have collectively given more than 150 years of volunteer service to Harris and Swain. In the past year, they have logged more than 28,000 hours of service.”
Carol Douglas, the volunteer coordinator for MedWest- Harris and MedWest-Swain and the gift shop manager at MedWest-Harris, said volunteers generously share their skills, talents and time with many areas of the hospitals, including in materials management, with chaplaincy and the chaplaincy committee, at the MedWest-Swain front desk, in human resources, in ambulatory surgery, with the comfort quilts, at the thrift shops in Sylva and Bryson City, with medication assistance, at the gift shop, at the Comfort Zone and by making colorful pillowcases for the children.
“Some volunteers have journeyed with a patient or their family members through sacred moments,” Douglas said. “Many have worked to raise huge amounts of money to help us update much needed equipment while offering kindness and honoring the dignity of those less fortunate. It is with a humble and very grateful heart that our staff says ‘thank you.’”
The following volunteers received service award pins at the Volunteer Appreciation Celebration in recognition of their years of service to MedWest-Harris and MedWest-Swain:
Rob Healy, Ken Higgins, Rev. Rosemary Peek, Rev. Wesley Stephens and Steve Maye for one year of service;
Jackie Hartford and Ellen Walker for three years of service;
Carol Bennett, JoAnn Black, Cory Boone, Pearl Brigman, Sue Chinners, Annie Estes, Betty Ford, Evelyn and Mark Healy, Kay Higgins, Rev.Tommy James, Gloria Wallace and Jean Woods for five years of service;
Nancy Buchanan and Jack Garrett for 10 years of service;
Sheila Coller for 15 years of service; and
Robert Blanton and John Reid for 25 years of service.
For more on volunteering at MedWest-Harris or MedWest-Swain, call Douglas at (828) 586-7405.
MedWest Health System provides healthcare for the people of western North Carolina at MedWest-Harris, MedWest-Haywood and MedWest-Swain hospitals, the outpatient facility MedWest-Franklin, and through the 100-member MedWest Physician Network. MedWest is affiliated with Carolinas HealthCare System.