This month we celebrate National Volunteers’ Week and the National Naval Medical Center will be honoring its own volunteers in a ceremony Friday the 15th of May. The definition of the word ‘‘Volunteer” is: someone who performs a service willingly and without pay; someone who offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking without obligation or compensation. Our volunteers inspire us by their example and encourage others to service with their countless acts of kindness and generosity. The impact of their ‘‘giving” is beyond words.
National Volunteer Week was created in 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order to establish a week as an annual celebration of volunteering. Every year since then, each U.S. President, along with many governors, mayors and other elected officials, have signed a proclamation promoting National Volunteer Week.
At the National Naval Medical Center we have 262 formal volunteers and countless others who give generously of their time, talents and heartfelt love. They are amongst our most important and integral assets. These caring individuals choose to act unselfishly in recognition of our needs with an attitude of not only social responsibility, but heartfelt love, selfless devotion and genuine compassion for others. Without their dedication, the essential life-saving work we do here at NNMC and throughout the region would be greatly compromised.
Our formal volunteer program is affiliated with five separate organizations: The American Red Cross; the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society; the Retired Activities Office; the Pastoral Care Department; and the NNMC Band. Together, they devote over 4,000 hours of their own time to contribute to our mission NNMC and Navy Medicine missions and for all who enter our doors. They are a vital force in helping us maintain and expand our status as a world-class, state-of-the-art Health Care Organization.
The volunteers perform a myriad of services, including but not limited to: patient care, administrative support, patient escort services, delivery of lab specimens, data entry, preparing patients and patient exam rooms, interviewing patients and families, Eucharistic ministry services, and countless general support functions. Some of our volunteers are professional doctors and nurses holding privileges and licenses that allow them to provide specialty services to patients and staff. And of course, the NNMC Band members volunteer their musical expertise at a wide variety of command functions including retirement ceremonies and changes of command.
It is also important to mention our supporting auxiliaries and clubs. Of special mention is the Oak Leaf Club. With their benevolent projects they have gathered resources that they have graciously given to our institutions and services. They have developed understandings and friendships among patients, families and staff promoting a high ‘‘esprit de corps.” Some of their projects might be familiar to you. They include Mary Jane Sanford Projects, American Red Cross, Fisher House, NNMC Pediatric Literacy Program, Navy⁄Marine Corps Relief, NMC Guard Residence Foundation, NNMC Medical Library, and the Oakleaf-founded Wounded Sailor and Marine Fund, which attends to the special needs of our casualties at NNMC. Oak Leaf’s all-volunteer gift shop is now located on the first deck of Building 9 below the Pharmacy at NNMC. It is called the Purple Acorn and helps to raise funds for their charitable work.
Please join me in recognizing our valuable volunteers. We rely so heavily on their patriotism, generosity and thoughtfulness and for all that they do to make our mission a little easier. If you encounter one of them as a patient or as a staff member [and I’m certain you will, because they’re everywhere], please extend your personal appreciation for a ‘‘Job Well Done”.
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