UAMS Medical Center Honors Volunteers
April 29, 2013 | UAMS volunteers and employees shared laughs, lunch, door prizes and even a few tears as their service was recognized April 25 at the annual UAMS Medical Center Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon. The event was organized by the UAMS Medical Center Volunteer Services and Auxiliary to honor 361 volunteers working in 56 different UAMS programs and events. Selected by UAMS volunteers, Barbie Brunner, director of patient- and family-centered care for UAMS Medical Center, was named “Volunteer Supervisor of the Year” and Connie Ratcliff, received the “Volunteer of the Year” award. Roxane Townsend, M.D., vice chancellor for clinical programs and CEO of UAMS Medical Center, expressed her appreciation for the volunteers. “You’re one of my favorite groups at the hospital,” Townsend said. “You volunteer because you want to, and we cannot express to you how much you mean to us. You give the most important thing you have, and that is your time.” An appreciation video was shown while Erin Gray, director of the UAMS Medical Center Volunteer Services and Auxiliary, and Melissa Fontaine, UAMS Medical Center chief operating officer, recognized the two big award winners. Fontaine introduced Brunner as kind, passionate and always available to patients, families and volunteers. “It’s humbling to be recognized in this way,” Brunner said. “This is one of the nicest things to ever happen to me. We have chosen the best place in the world not only to work but to volunteer.” Gray presented the “Volunteer of the Year” award to Ratcliff, who is also a patient at UAMS, calling her a “walking miracle.” Ratcliff, in spite of undergoing chemotherapy treatments, continues to regularly serve patients at UAMS. “Even after her surgery, she wanted to check on her patients, with makeup perfect and sassy as ever,” Gray said. “She wants them to have a little fun and to know that there’s always hope.”
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