Dover, Ohio - Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital is recognizing the people who donate their time to help them give patients the best possible care. 

The hospital recently hosted its annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner to thank the 155 volunteers who collectively donated more than 22,000 hours of their time and talent in 2018. Volunteer Services Manager Kathy Willoughby said that's the equivalent of 10 caregiver staff members working full-time.

“Your kind and caring actions at the hospital make a difference in the lives of our patients, and in supporting the work of our caregiver staff to provide the very best patient care,” she said. “Our volunteers come from various backgrounds, but are here with the similar shared goal of helping others through their volunteer service.” 

Hospital volunteers work at the Information Desk, Corner Shop gift shop, Surgery reception desk, South Entrance lobby, deliver mail, and assist patients and staff.

A total of 21 volunteers received service-hours pins for achieving milestones in their service during 2018. Cathy Liegl of Dover reached 10,000 hours of volunteer time, accumulated over the past 49 years.

Others who received service-hour pins included:
500 hours – Pat Allison, Sally Bender and Cris Nixon of Dover; Sebastian Davis and Cher Wood of Strasburg; Peg Jones of Dundee; and Karen Kimmel and Julie Schonauer of New Philadelphia.
1,000 hours – Janet Kemp, Eileen Massarelli, Jan Ochsenbine and Marty Ochsenbine of New Philadelphia; and Cheryl Stevenson of Dover.
2,000 hours – Ruth Ann Berry of Dover.
3,000 hours – Lacie Hoffman of Dellroy; Eileen Ren of New Philadelphia; and Cheryl Sauser of Stone Creek.
5,000 hours – Kay Specht of New Philadelphia.
8,000 hours – Connie Karlowicz of Dover.

To learn more about volunteer opportunities at the hospital, contact Willoughby at 330.364.0833 or via e-mail at kathyw@unionhospital.org.

Information about Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital and all of its services available to the community is available on the hospital website at www.unionhospital.org, and on the hospital’s pages on Facebook and Twitter (@Union_Hospital).