July 20, 2007

Honoring the MGH’s faithful volunteers

For 33 years, the sight has been a familiar one on the inpatient units of the MGH: volunteer Mary Avery (right) strolling through the hallways of the hospital, pushing a cart filled to the brim with needlepoint kits. Visiting patients room by room, Avery offers her kits to patients of all skill levels, providing a welcome distraction from the difficult realities of illness and hospitalization. She is always happy to interrupt her schedule for a bedside chat, and when a patient tells Avery that he or she does not know how to needlepoint, her response is simple: “I’ll teach you.”

On June 27, Avery was among the dedicated individuals who were honored on Volunteer Recognition Day for their faithful service to the MGH. Volunteers are one of the MGH’s most vital resources — during the last year alone, the hospital’s 1,242 volunteers logged an incredible 78,421 cumulative hours of service, the equivalent of 38 full-time employees.

The festivities under the Bulfinch Tent included remarks from Jeanette Ives Erickson, RN, MS, senior vice president for Patient Care Services and chief nurse; Edward P. Lawrence, chairman of the Board of Trustees; Pat Rowell, director of Volunteer Services; and Paul Bartush, assistant director of Volunteer Services. An awards presentation concluded the ceremony, during which individual volunteers were lauded for their efforts on behalf of the MGH.

The Volunteer Recognition Day award recipients are Elaine Kwiecien, Jessie Harding Award; staff of the Same Day Surgical Unit, Trustees Award; Romeena Lee, Maeve Blackman Award; Samuel Dorson, Outstanding Youth Award; Mary Avery, Lifetime Achievement Award; Martha Stone, special recognition award; and Priscilla Farias-Monge, Cari Hook, Bill Lauch, Anthony Moreschi, Frank Norton, Betsy Quinn, Nathaniel Rosenberg, Betsy Ryder, Joanne Scoppettuolo, Bill Terranova, Chanta Toeum and Marilyn Yaremchuk, Service Awards.

From left, Ives Erickson, Kwiecien and Lawrence