Volunteers Carry Out the Hackley Mission
Iris Stibitz knows that a kind word is a welcome gift.
The 22-year volunteer at Hackley Hospital currently works in the surgery waiting area, where her duties go beyond answering the phones and making coffee. She also provides comforting words to the families of the patients.
"There are long waits for some people," Stibitz said. "You need a lot of patience and compassion.
"A kind word, a pat on the shoulder or even a smile can make it a little easier for them."
Stibitz is one of more than 350 active volunteers at Hackley Hospital who donated an astounding 33,000 hours of service in 2001.
"They are just a great group of people," said Kathy Daly, Hackley Hospital volunteer supervisor and development coordinator. "They are just an enormous gift to us. "I don't know how we'd survive without them."
The seeds for volunteerism at Hackley Hospital were planted by its founder. Charles H. Hackley, in his letter of intent to establish the hospital, stated: "While it is my purpose to establish an endowment towards the support of the Hospital, it will not be a large one, for I want the members of your society and the people of our City to feel that each has a personal interest in the maintenance of the Institution."
Volunteer service formally started in 1924, when hospital Superintendent Amy Beers called together a group of women who began the auxiliary.
The group dedicated itself "For the purpose of forming a working corps of women to assist with the many increasing needs in the growth of the hospital," according to the minutes of the first meeting.
On Nov. 24, 1924, the first group of officers and committees were selected. Nellie B. Chisholm was named president. Chisholm was the first woman to hold elected office in Muskegon County, serving as County Commissioner of Schools for 28 years until 1935. She also was involved in the formation of the Muskegon County PTA and was active in PTA activities at all levels.
Fundraisers at the time included card parties, rummage sales, pantry and basket sales, dues and donations. A Hackley Hospital history noted the volunteer committees took their work seriously and "each arranged their own affairs to carry on the activities sponsored by that committee."
On March 2, 1925, the Free Bed work began, and in April 1929, the Auxiliary decided to form "circles," each with its own director who became a member of the auxiliary board. Dues were 25- to 75 cents a month and the activities included bridge, making bandages and surgical dressings, book reviews and visiting departments of the hospital.
Each circle raised funds for equipment, which ordinarily could not be purchased by the Board of Trustees.
Gifts to the hospital in the early years included nurses scholarships; furnishings; landscaping, including lawns, trees and shrubs; flowers for the hospital and wards; flowers on each patient's breakfast tray for Hospital Day; favors for patient trays; Memorial Fund - Nursing Library; and library maintenance.
In the 1940s, a Junior League of high-school age volunteers was formed as a separate unit of the Auxiliary with its own officers and activities. Its adviser was appointed by the president of the board from the Senior Auxiliary. Its project was the nursery and children's ward. Gifts included a sun porch, isolation bassinette, incubator, warming table, sterilizers, blankets, curtains and favors for patient trays.
The Free Bed unit in the 1940s also had a representative on the Auxiliary Board. This unit endowed one Babies Free Bed at a cost of $5,000 and purchased an electrocardiograph.
The Auxiliary's gifts totaled more than $10,000 in its first nine years, and there were 45 active circles in the 1940s.
In 1950, Mrs. C.C. Bradbury organized the Future Nurses, which the Auxiliary supported. In 1956, $10,000 was pledged to the Building Fund, and in 1962, $15,000 was pledged toward the new pediatrics ward. The Auxiliary had contributed an average of $5,000 a year from 1955 to 1965.
The Auxiliary agreed to help develop a hospital coffee shop in the late 1970s and presented the Hackley "Follies" at the Frauenthal Theater to assist paying off the $20,000 pledge. The performance, attended by 1,559, was a huge success and raised $15,182.51. Those involved contributed more than 5,244 volunteer hours.
Because of that success, the Auxiliary decided to make the Follies a biannual event. Since its first show in 1978, more than $150,000 was donated to Hackley Hospital. The projects included the purchase of a van in 1982 for use in transporting outpatients to and from the hospital for treatment; a new birthing room in the obstetrics unit in 1984; the Women's Health Resource Center in 1986; a screening clinic for older adults in 1988; a nondenominational chapel in 1990; and a Pulsolith Laser Lithotripter used to break apart and remove stones in the urinary tract in 1992.
Volunteers also turned two fundraising ventures, the Hackley Hospital Gift Shop and the Lobbyside Coffee Shoppe, into business success stories. The Cherry Guild opened the hospital gift shop in 1959. As of its 40th anniversary in 1999, the Guild had donated $1.5 million to the hospital with money made from gift shop sales. Guild members had contributed 240,000 hours of volunteer service.
Marge Horness, one of three charter members still active in the Cherry Guild, has accumulated 16,465 hours of volunteer time since 1959.
The Lobbyside Coffee Shoppe opened in November 1980 with 135 volunteers. Its menu, especially the legendary Chicken Waldorf Salad, has made the coffee shop a popular lunch destination in Muskegon. The shop generated about $550,000 in sales last year, according to hospital officials.
The Auxiliary has changed over the years, but it remains the "founding organization" of volunteerism at Hackley Hospital. The Auxiliary remained the umbrella organization until the founding of the Volunteer Executive Council in the late 1960s, according to Melissa Freye, director of development and community relations at Hackley.
In addition to helping the hospital, a major emphasis for the Auxiliary has always been to assist and support the Hackley School of Nursing. Until the school closed in 1982, the Auxiliary sponsored the annual "Hanging of the Greens" during the Christmas season and dances and teas for the students.
When the School of Nursing was moved to Muskegon Community College, the Auxiliary awarded scholarships to MCC nursing students. Today, the Auxiliary still provides an annual scholarship to a young person entering a health-related career.
JoAnne Beyrle is the current president of the Auxiliary at Hackley Hospital. Her duties include serving on the Volunteer Executive Council, holding an annual fundraiser event, overseeing the annual "Light it With Love" holiday tribute program and the annual scholarship.
Beyrle has been involved as a volunteer for 17 years, serving the entire time in the surgery waiting room. She has been involved in the Hackley Hospital Auxiliary for about eight years and has served as president for four years.
"The minute I retired I came to Hackley," Beyrle said."I had a friend who worked in the surgery waiting room who had asked me to 'come join.'
"So when I retired, I did!"
Like fellow volunteer Stibitz, Beyrle enjoys being able to reach out and help families awaiting word on patients in the operating room.
"I truly love the people, especially with families waiting for a loved one in surgery," Beyrle said. "I enjoy a sense of making a difference for them -- a word of comfort, providing updates from the OR, or even getting someone a cup of coffee."
It is that wish of making a difference that brings many volunteers to Hackley, according to Daly.
"We have a lot of ongoing connections here," Daly said. "Many times someone had a loved one here and they received great care, and they wanted to give something back.
"It is interesting to hear what brings them around the table. Mostly, it's wanting to help people."
Volunteers receive orientation and training sessions, and then they are paired with another volunteer "until they feel comfortable" with their duties, Daly said.
"We're very fortunate to have our volunteers," Daly said. "We're very proud of them."
Volunteer opportunities at Hackley include serving as couriers and hostesses, working in the gift and coffee shops, staffing the surgery waiting area and cancer center, performing clerical duties and driving courtesy coaches.
The husband-and-wife volunteer team of Ken and Karolyn Rollenhagen drive a courtesy coach at the Hackley medical professional building, transporting patients from the parking lot to the building. Karolyn Rollenhagen started volunteering last October while Ken has been a volunteer for five years. Ken Rollenhagen had a friend who was a coach driver.
"I couldn't come up with a reason why not to volunteer," he said. "At the professional building, people are coming in to get help. Some of them are really struggling.
"It makes you feel good about being able to help them."
They each drive one four-hour shift a week on the same day and in the same coach. He drives from 8 to noon while her volunteer shift is from noon to 4.
They both have helped the occasional stranded motorist find his or her car, and they never hesitate to give a ride to anyone in need.
"You make a lot of friends on rainy, snowy days," Ken Rollenhagen said with a laugh.
The new courtesy coaches were purchased with funds from Lobbyside Coffee Shoppe sales and are equipped with radios and heat.
"The receptionist's desk can radio us and we'll help them out to their car," Rollenhagen said.
Donna Will, president of the Volunteer Executive Council at Hackley Hospital, has volunteered at the hospital for eight years. She works as a cashier at Lobbyside Coffee Shoppe and is president of its guild.
A retired math teacher, Will wanted a rewarding volunteer opportunity.
"Once you retire, you really need to give back to the community," Will said. "Libraries, schools and hospitals are three areas that people look into.
"Volunteering keeps one more alert and fulfilled."
Will's volunteer duties allow her to put her skills as an educational consultant to good use. She serves in several volunteer leadership positions on the local and regional level. Working at Lobbyside appealed to her because the volunteers have a say in how the profits are spent.
"It makes me feel good to know where it's going," Will said, adding that the guild receives a "wish list" of equipment and other wants from the hospital.
The 401-member Volunteer Executive Council meets monthly and includes representation from all the guilds. It sponsors a Christmas tea for the volunteers and a summer celebration, with ice cream and cake, for the hospital staff. Fundraisers throughout the year include an outerwear sale, a sale of potted and hanging plants, and a rose sale on Valentine's Day.
Stibitz said that volunteering is a whole new venue and many friendships are formed.
"Volunteers feel like they're part of a family," Stibitz said. "We care for each other and about each other.
"The administration recognizes the importance of volunteers. I love it."
Daly agreed that volunteers play a crucial role in the success of the hospital -- a role that is recognized by the staff.
"The associates are so appreciative," Daly said. "The associates send treats to the volunteers at Christmas."
The tradition of giving set forth by hospital founder Charles H. Hackley has endured for a century. Hackley provided a generous financial gift, and the volunteers have upheld his edict to take a "personal interest" in Hackley Hospital. Theirs is the gift of time.
"You could say that these 400-plus volunteers are carrying out Hackley's philosophy," Will said.
Reprinted with permission from the Muskegon Chronicle
