Caption: Volunteers Mark and Michelle Cohen (middle) were honored by CC Volunteer Program coodinator Courtney Duncan for their efforts with animal-assisted therapy. “I am glad that we can help, it is so nice to see someone who is maybe having a tough time light up when we visit,” Mark said.
The Clinical Center Social Work Department honored hospital volunteers April 19 to 25 as part of National Volunteer Week, a celebration of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to improve communities across the country.
The 17th annual CC volunteer appreciation event on April 22 included a presentation of special recognition awards to nine volunteers based on consistency, reliability, hours spent, or “general overall wonderfulness,” as CC Volunteer Program coordinator Courtney Duncan said. Out of the 280 volunteers from the last year (currently 197 on board), honored were: Mark and Michelle Cohen, animal-assisted therapy program; Eileen De Santillana, Language Interpreters Program; Joanne Hill, Patient Ambassador Program; Saroja Kanesa-Thasan, Red Cross; Cynthia Kim, Patient Ambassador Program; Janet Logan, volunteering on OP 12 for 14 years; Monica Sullivan, Language Interpreters Program; and Armen Thomasian, Patient Ambassador Program.
In the celebration’s welcome, CC Chief Operating Officer Maureen Gormley thanked the volunteers for their contribution to the CC’s healing environment. “The care that makes this place human is the care that you give every day to our patients,” she said.
The Social Work Department also organized mini-celebrations in the volunteer/Red Cross lounge each day throughout National Volunteer Week, where volunteers were invited to meet and mingle with their peers.
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