The Chester River Hospital Center Auxiliary celebrated 60 years of service to health care in Kent and northern Queen Anne’s counties at its 2019 Annual Meeting held at Heron Point in Chestertown on Tuesday, January 8. The occasion included a luncheon, remarks by Peggy Roca, manager of Perioperative Services at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown, installation of new officers and recognition of individual members for reaching milestones in their volunteer hours accumulated.
Auxiliary President Sue Edson announced that during 2018, Auxiliary volunteers worked approximately 10,358 hours in the hospital gift shop, at the Nearly New Shop and on Board activities. According to the Maryland Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism, volunteer time is valued at $24.69 per hour, which brings the total value of CRHC Auxiliary members’ time volunteered during the year to $259,386.
“You are all a very important part of the team at our hospital here in Chestertown,” said Edson. “Thank you for all the time you have given this year and if you know anyone who has four hours a week available, we always need additional volunteers!”
Photo: CRHC Auxiliary “star volunteers” for 2018, l. to r.: Joanna Rash, Jane Hukill, Gwinn Derricott, Phyllis Brown, and Carol Droge. Not shown: Vicki Neal, Diane McAneny, Thelma Bright, Shirley Gaynor, Trish Harwood and Charlotte Slagle.
Volunteers who had accumulated 500 hours of service or more were presented with a gold star pin. This year year’s honorees were: for the Nearly New Shop, Thelma Bright, Shirley Gaynor, Trish Harwood, Charlotte Slagle and Joanna Rash; in the hospital and the Gift Shop, Phyllis Brown, Gwinn Derricott, Carol Droge, Jane Hukill, Diane McAneny and Vicki Neal.
Installed as the Auxiliary’s new officers were Sue Edson, president; Jack Edson, vice president & immediate past president; Joann Bowdle, parliamentarian; Carol Droge, corresponding secretary; Kathy Ruge, secretary; and Jean Anthony, treasurer.
Peggy Roca provided an overview of the many kinds of surgery performed at UM Shore Medical Center at Chestertown and thanked the Auxiliary for its many generous donations to help make possible all-new, state of the art equipment available to the surgical services team. “We have the best of the best equipment here to care for our patients’ surgical needs,” Roca said.
As part of the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS), University of Maryland Shore Regional Health is the principal provider of comprehensive health care services for more than 170,000 residents of Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s and Talbot counties on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. UM Shore Regional Health’s team of more than 2,500 employees, medical staff, board members and volunteers works with various community partners to fulfill the organization’s mission of Creating Healthier Communities Together.
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