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Degenstein named hospital auxiliary volunteer of 2021

By Sue Sitter - | May 28, 2022

Sue Sitter/PCT Good Samaritan Hospital Association Auxiliary board members pose for a photo at their Volunteer of the Year Award Luncheon held on May 19. From the back row, left to right, are Laurie Odden, Marge Heilman, and Shelley Block, volunteer coordinator for Heart of America Medical Center. From the middle, left to right, are Terry Jacobson, Bev Paul, and Marlene Schaan. From the front row, left to right, are Vonnie Degenstein, Gerry Brenno, Susan Anderson, and Diane Leier. Missing from the photo is board member Harriet Kreklau.

A volunteer who “goes and goes like the Energizer Bunny” received the Good Samaritan Hospital Association Auxiliary’s 2021 Volunteer of the Year Award at a luncheon held on May 19 at First Lutheran Church.

“I don’t know where she gets her batteries, but I need them,” Shelley Block, volunteer coordinator at Heart of America Medical Center, said of Vonnie Degenstein, as she presented Degenstein with a potted plant wrapped in cellophane.

“(Degenstein) has been with the auxiliary board since 1999,” Block said.

“She has been our treasurer since 2000. She has chaired the raffle – I don’t know how many years,” she added. “She does the salad luncheon and decorates every table. She helps out everywhere.”

Degenstein said she made a promise to herself she’d volunteer full-time after retiring from her job working for The Pierce County Tribune more than 20 years ago.

Block; Becky Hershey, HAMC director of hospice and long-term care services; and Auxiliary board president Marlene Schaan, all gave high praise to the hospital’s several volunteers.

The volunteers came from backgrounds that varied from cosmetology to nursing and more.

“We have people who come in and they escort people throughout the hospital,” Hershey said. “You come in and run Bingo. You come in and have a birthday party.”

She added, “You come and greet people at the door or do hair or hold someone’s hand at the end of their life. I can’t even name all the things people come in and do.”

Hershey thanked volunteers who, in pre-COVID-19 days, had faithfully transported long-term care residents to church services.

“I took that for granted until in just one day, everything stopped,” she said. “That instant when there were no more volunteers in our building had a profound impact not only on me but on all of our staff and residents. I did not know how much I appreciated you and how thankful I am to have you until we couldn’t have you anymore.”

Schaan thanked the volunteers for their support in fundraising activities such as a salad luncheon, May Day baskets, dessert sales, and raffles.

She said the auxiliary and volunteers had helped to raise $15,000 for capital campaign toward the construction of a new hospital; $2,100 for wheelchair cushions for care center; $2,500 through the Twice Blessed Campaign toward a new ambulance; $1,500 for new pictures for the clinic’s walls; $4,100 for air mattresses for the care center.

“So, over $26,000 was given to HAMC thanks to all of us,” Schaan said.

The group also listened to a video message from HAMC CEO Erik Christenson. He apologized for not attending in person, adding he was out of town attending a leadership meeting with the North Dakota Hospital Association.

“Thank you to Shelley for all you do – your amazing work at directing and coordinating all the volunteer services,” he said to Block. “You’re vibrant; you’re active and your personality just lifts everyone up. I appreciate all you do for the volunteers and the organization.”

“You just change the environment with your electricity. It makes our days better,” he added.

Gary Dorn, chaplain of HAMC, gave a blessing before the lunch.

“I never thought of Shelley as ‘electric,'” he quipped before he began, “but that does seem pretty good.”

Block said the auxiliary’s theme for 2022 was “Better Together.”

She told the group she had prayed for inspiration for a theme, “and then it hit me,” she said. “We are better because of all that you do, every benefit we put on, we’re better because all of you come to our benefits. We are better because of you who volunteer for hospice. You sit with these patients. You hold hands. You read to them. You do their hair.”

Block and Hershey each thanked God for His help at different times, reflecting the hospital’s heritage as an organization founded by Pierce County area churches.

Block also congratulated Lois Volk for being selected as 2020’s HAMC Volunteer of the Year.

“She would come up every Wednesday to bring our residents to Mass,” she said of Volk, adding she regretted not being able to honor her in a more formal way during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Although Block said the hospital and Haaland Estates still have restrictions on volunteers, employees were happy to see them again in their more limited roles.

“We miss you,” she said. “We’re better because of you.”

After the luncheon, she described some of the limits still in place at the hospital on volunteers.

“We have some volunteers on a one-on-one basis with (care center) residents to do their nails or visit with them, but they have to wear masks and keep their masks on,” Block said. “There’s really no one running around helping anymore, so to speak.”

She noted volunteers working at the hospital gift shop, admission area, or eye surgery area must also keep masks on at all times. The same restrictions apply to volunteers who work with patients and residents on a one-on-one basis.

“But, we’re grabbing (volunteers) wherever we can,” Block said. “We don’t want to lose them.”

“Through the pandemic, we’ve learned different ways to utilize our volunteers, which has been wonderful. Some enjoy those new ways even more,” she added.