Letter to the Editor

Posted on 21 April 2011 by LeslieM

Dear Editor:­ ­

It sure is a gift to volunteer and give back what has been given to me.

Sadness hit me when I lost four members of my family in one year.  Each week, I would go for grief counseling at Holy Cross Hospital.  After my session, full of tears, I would browse through the Thrift Store at Holy Cross, noticing the lovely ladies behind the counter with the blue-and-white smocks on.  Two women who worked in the boutique part of the Thrift Store made eye contact with me and started to engage in conversations.  Each week, they would ask me how I was doing.

As I got stronger and more positive, I moved into volunteer work.  I worked with children, teaching them jewelry making and how to knit at the Boys & Girls Club.  ­­

When the opportunity came to do a career day, as a radiology technician, I approached the Dept. of Radiology at Holy Cross Hospital for pamphlets and pictures of X-rays that I could use in my approach to children to become radiology students.  I met the manager of the department of radiology and she was lovely.  She encouraged me to share the X-rays that I had and hang them on the windows of the school.  She gave me a box of gloves. I blew up a few and wrote “be an X-ray student.”  It was quite a success for me that day.  ­­I missed my field after 57 years in the hospital rooms and reached out to the Director of Volunteers and requested to be assigned to the radiology department, hoping that I would be accepted.  Of course, I was welcomed after a very thorough interview and passed two TB, PPD test and I became a dependable and trusted volunteer at Holy Cross Hospital.  I can’t wait to come in and do my tour of duty each week.

A positive attitude is back in the mainstream of my life.  I am grateful for the opportunity to give back what I learned in my career and my life skills.  At the free lunch, I sit down with any volunteer who has the blue-and-white smock on and am welcomed like an old friend.  Such a gift to feel wanted and loved by all at Holy Cross Hospital.­­

Lois Radding­

Century Village,  Deerfield Beach

 

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