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Hospital auxiliary marks 60 years of service
Chris Beattie/Staff Photo -- Volunteer Auxiliary members Frances Medaris, Elizabeth Houser and Sandy Payne share a laugh at the gift shop at Medical Center of McKinney. More than 80 volunteers make up the Auxiliary, which has been served the hospital since 1952.
By Chris Beattie, cbeattie@starlocalnews.com
They greet patients, help in surgery and prep for the next procedure. They span the hospital, their inviting uniforms hard to miss.
And only some have a medical degree. But Medical Center of McKinney (MCM) wouldn't be the same without the Volunteer Auxiliary -- it's really never had to be.
The group is celebrating its 60th year of service, which began in 1952 at Collin Memorial Hospital, just one of the hospital's several names over the past half century. Now with more than 80 members, the Auxiliary remains as strongly tied to MCM patients as are their physicians.
To commemorate its "diamond jubilee," the Auxiliary will hold its first-ever off-premise fundraiser, Casino Night, on Oct. 5 at Eldorado Country Club in McKinney. Raising money Vegas-style is the game, volunteerism is the name.
As a nonprofit group, the Auxiliary relies on such fundraisers to stretch its service beyond the front desk, outside the hospital. With money from on-site book fairs, tamale sales, basket raffles, jewelry sales and MCM's gift shop, the Auxiliary last year provided more than $26,000 in non-budgeted hospital equipment, including standing aids for patients, an epidural chair, cardiac pillows, supplemental rehab equipment and preemie simulators.
The Auxiliary donated $1,000 to McKinney's Operation Appreciation program, $2,000 to Serenity High (an alternative campus for students recently out of drug/alcohol treatment), and gift cards and amenities to The Samaritan Inn. They gave $5,000 in scholarships to McKinney ISD high school graduates interested in a medical career.
"Many other hospitals have volunteers, but they don't have an auxiliary," said Marge Vogel, the group's volunteer placement coordinator. "Any profits we bring in, we return to either the community or the hospital."
Such fundraising support grew out of Naomi's Gift Shop, which Naomi Woods opened as a sandwich shop in 1952 at Collin Memorial Hospital. Woods was soon selling combs, brushes, toothpaste, items patients might need, then jewelry and gifts.
As eventual president of the Volunteer Auxiliary, which formed around the same time, Woods combined the gift shop with the Auxiliary, thus why it's named after her. Renovated in 2008, the shop is staffed by 22 Auxiliary members, including Frances Medaris, the longest-standing volunteer.
She and other longtime members Norma Dubetsky, Doris Gillard, Nancy Griffin and Lois Ringhofer remember the early years, when the Auxiliary staked its helpful claim along hospital hallways.
"When we first started on Graves Street, the gift shop was bringing in $5 a day," Medaris said. "There have been a lot of changes. I'm just blessed to be able to have all the friends I've had through the years."
Members volunteer for four-hour shifts in the emergency room, pharmacy, food and nutrition services, on the med-surgery floor, in radiology, and as creative companions for patients. Between 10 and 20 volunteers work around the hospital at one time, some for multiple shifts a day, many at least two shifts a week.
Tori Owens, assistant vice president of operations, has worked at MCM for 21 years and is the Auxiliary's director. She stressed a bond members have that's often unique from that of hospital staff.
"It is truly a family," she said. "It's so unconditional what they do, it gives me goose bumps every time they come in and want to give their time."
How the Auxiliary finds new members isn't traditional, either. Many come through word of mouth, with 14 from the Heritage Ranch gated community in Fairview, but others follow their hospital experience -- be it as a former patient or employee.
"I did work here for four years, and when I retired, I was looking for something to do," said Elaine Garrett, first vice president of the Auxiliary. "It was like coming home. I felt like I was a part of this hospital."
A man whose wife just passed away at MCM emailed Owens this week about volunteering, saying he needed to get out of the house and wanted to volunteer because of how the hospital had treated his wife, Owens said.
"I was a patient here two to three years ago, here for a number of weeks, and boy, did I ever get babied and pampered," said Gayle Hunt, gift shop volunteer. "You get special service."
Auxiliary members come from McKinney, Allen, Fairview, Frisco, Plano, Prosper, Van Alstyne, Farmersville, Melissa, Princeton, Blue Ridge, Parker and even Dallas. The MCM group sent three representatives to a recent Texas Association of Hospital Auxiliary convention in Austin, still eager to improve their service.
Whether they're helping prep for open-heart surgery or stocking for afternoon snack time, the Auxiliary is there for the hospital.
And hopes to always be.
"It's a wonderful way to get to know other people who care," Vogel said. "I can't think of another organization that I would rather be working with."
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