Latest / Here to Serve - A United Regional Podcast / Auxiliary volunteers Sandy Boswell, Sue Hester, and Linda Pless
Transcript
- United Regional: Welcome to Here to Serve, a United Regional podcast. I'm your host, Ryan Graves. My favorite part of being the director of patient experience at United Regional is the incredible people that I meet and work with on a daily basis. And I want you to meet them too. Join us to meet the people behind the badge and to highlight those who are here to serve. All right, welcome to the Here to Serve podcast. anybody that works at United Regional will recognize some of the faces that are in the room today. I am so excited to have with us the famous or maybe the infamous, the popcorn ladies. Okay. We are excited that you're here. And I somebody, one of my one of my close friends had said, Hey, as soon as you can, you have to get these ladies on the podcast. I said, I'm excited to do so. and so your names clearly aren't actually the popcorn ladies. but I do see you're wearing some incredible shirts. What what kind of shirts we got on today? Popcorn queens. Popcorn queens. those are I'm sure those are limited editions. I can't I can't get one. Okay. That's fine. well let's let's do this. Let's go around. I'd like to meet each and every one of you, introduce you to the organization. So tell me how long you've been volunteering and maybe what did you do before that? Of course we're gonna know your name as well. I'm Sandy Boswell and I've been at the hospital for close to three years now. love it very much. We have a good time. before that I was a I st still am a social worker for like 30 years. I spent 20 of those at first step. And then I spent another few years before I retired working for family circle services, which helps with CPS when kids have been removed from the home. My job was to go in and help get the kids back. Home. Wow. well, thank you for the sacred work that you did. that had to be very difficult work, but but very needed and sacred. Yeah. Thank you. And I'm glad to have you at United Regional. how about you? Okay. I'm Sue Hester and I have been to hospital about seven years. I did four years at the coffee bar and then we started the popcorn thing, so about three with it. And I worked for Peridonis for thirty two years before retiring. And I just love being there. You know, they're they're an amazing group of people. Yeah. Well, you guys bring a lot more joy than just the popcorn. I know that people love to come and and visit with you and I wanna I wanna talk about that here in a moment. but first I'd like to meet Miss Linda. I'm it I'm Linda Pless. I've been with the hospital About four months. And I retired as a hairdresser for fifty four years. And I really have enjoyed it. Yeah, fifty four years as a hairdresser. Yes, sir. And three four three, four months working with these ladies. So I'm assuming did they are they who recruited you? Yes. Yeah. So they needed the third musketeer? Yes. Okay. Got two musketeers just doesn't have the same ring. That's right. We gotta have the she has multiple personalities, so it wouldn't matter anyway. Yeah, you never That's true. But the hardest thing though about getting the day started is reminding Sandy what she's supposed to be doing. She forgets from week to week and I have to say, Turn it on and you know, it's but she finally gets it going. So well I'm glad that you guys together You figure it out. That's that's why it takes a team. that's amazing. I wish the cameras had been rolling all morning while we were talking because I felt like I've already been to a comedy show before we even got going, which is exactly why I was excited to talk to you guys today. you bring a lot of joy to a lot of people. and wanna get into that. But but first I wanna I wanna ask a question I've been kind of thinking about. most people work because they have to work. That's what I see. You know, everybody's like, you gotta punch the clock, do your nine to five. I gotta work to pay the bills, et cetera, et cetera. and I I'm I'm so impressed by all of our volunteer group when I get to see them that you are folks who are not working because you have to work, you're working because you want to work. You're you're you've literally volunteered to do this. Just tell me about that. What makes you say, I want to work, not I have to work? Well my mother was a volunteer and she told me, she said, When you retire I want you to volunteer, you will love it. And she was so right and I absolutely just I c we can't wait to get there. We love it. And and I'm just in awe of the workers there, the nurses and everybody, because if somebody comes and wants a box of popcorn, doesn't have a dollar, they immediately it pull out another dollar and g and give it take. Somebody else pays for Yeah. So I'm not surprised. They're just no, I'm not either after getting to know a lot of but it's it's really a great group of people. I think too, for me, after we've worked a shift is that we come away with more blessings than than anybody else we think. Because we love people and we see in all levels where some of the people are upstairs with their families or coming to the emergency room and they're distressed and sad and we pick up on that right away. And one of the things that we do a lot of is we pray with them. And I think we've only had one person turn us down. I think he was just scared. But we'll always ask 'cause we'll see coming and they're just so sad. And we'll speak to and then before you know it they're telling us what's going on and we'll ask Do you want us to pray with you? yes, please. And they'll sometimes they'll come back down and they're feeling good and they went up and told somebody and they sent word down to thank us. So I think it's a blessing for us. I love it. well, we joked earlier before the cameras are on about me being a PK, right? A preacher's kid. Yes. But I will tell you that That ministers to me very much what you just said, both of you, what you said, and I would summarize with a scripture, it is more blessed to give than receive. and you're you're epitomizing that. And and let's I mean, I was gonna talk about this a little later, but let's just get into it. You guys, what you're doing is so much more sacred than handing out popcorn, right? On the surface, yeah. We're giving people popcorn, but underneath y'all are ministering to people when they come through those doors on the worst day of their life. Right. Man, that's powerful. Yeah. We were laughing a few seconds ago and y'all were this close to getting me to tear up. You better be careful. I'll tear up really easy. Linda, say something funny. No, no, I'm kidding. Okay. I'm just happy to be here. Okay. So you the I've heard from them and about why they choose to do this. They don't have to, they're doing it for money. But you are getting paid very differently, it sounds like anything to add? Well, if it wasn't for these two, I probably would never have done it. Yeah. But I have really enjoyed it and I'm very appreciative that they asked me to join and the people are just great. And sometimes when the people come by, if you just say hi, it's just like, somebody spoke to me and that's a good feeling. Yeah. It's r well, what I just heard from you is re relationships. you know, some you had you had relationships with some folks that pulled you in and now it's something you're being you're being blessed by. And everything you guys are doing sounds like it's just meeting other people, ministering to other people. Yeah. Well, at a church we used to go to, we Sandy had a support group and they were called Sisters of the Heart and that's where really brought us all together and we all have a tattoo. Do you really look yes. my goodness, that's a sisters of the heart tattoo. Yes. Awesome. So yeah, so we've been a support to 'cause Sandy and I both lost our husbands and she has lost a previous husband, but she's remarried. But so we've all shared that loss and it's and that's another thing we wanna do. We wanna connect to the people that come to us and try to help them whatever they're going through. Yeah. it's so powerful. Nothing there's nothing more powerful in my opinion, than than those human connections. you know, and and medicine is important. We have to give the right medicine, do the right medicines and all those things, but not not at the sake of of what you guys are doing is is just incredible work for not only for our teams, like our our staff come and and and love talking to you, but also for for our patients and their families as they're coming through and connecting. And we're right there with by the security guards. Uhhuh. So we try to help them. We tell them we have their back when they're way back. You need us? Come on, wing do I'm sh hey, I bet that brings them a lot of comfort to know that they have backup right there. no, it's more like we're okay. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. And we've had people bring us things, gifts. We get all kinds of gifts. Yeah. Yeah. That's incredible. We're just so blessed. Yeah. Incredible. How many days a week do y'all do this? Just Thursdays. Just on th you come in Thursdays and w how long are you there on Thursdays? Four hours, ten to two. Ten to two on Thursdays. Yeah. So I mean I can sm I can smell it. When I turn the corner on the first floor, I'm like, hey, that popcorn's here today. I know that's what's so funny. Everybody comes by, I smelled you. Yeah, I know it's here today. Yeah. Yeah. We've been a little sporadic here lately because we've all had some issues with our family's health and and each other. So I've been off for about a month or two and I'm going back first of September. my sister come down with cancer, so I was off helping with her and it's just different little things. And so when I put my little deal on this morning it's like I'm back. I'm back. That's exciting. Yeah, but when we miss we We really miss everybody, you know. But think life happens. Sure. Sure. Like well, we we we thank you so much for what you do, Freed Niner Regional, for our teams and for our patience and and you're you're doing it because you wanna do it and man, that's just it's a great thing. So what do you guys what do you guys do outside of here when you're not volunteering here? my gosh. We travel, we go on trips. So Okay. All right, so yeah, what's best best place you I I wanna try I don't get to travel a lot. in my current phase of life, but I'm making a list of all the places I want to go. Yeah. Best best place you've been. Gosh, it's hard. We took a cruise last year and we went to Fredericksburg recently. We went to Vegas. Bunch of us. Uh-huh. we've been I won't ask you any questions about that. Yeah, no. What happened stays there. But we just we have a good time wherever we go. So it's we meet every Tuesday for coffee. Every Tuesday and for years. And then we have a Bible study che on Tuesday night. Mm-hmm. And we all go the same chart. So you know, we're we're together quite a bit. And and we're all families, so our families are each other's families. You know, when we have Christmas dinners, whatever, we're all a part of that. You know, you guys are reminding me of some I'm a I'm a nurse by trade and I c I'm a kind of a data nerd sometimes. And so I'm always interested in the latest healthcare science and whatnot. And and there's a provider, doctor, that released a study recently. And it was surprising but not. but he released a study that showed the number one predictor of longevity. So the number one predictor of how long you're gonna live. And I was thinking of things like smoking and, you know, cancer and da-da-da. You guys have any idea, any guesses? The number one predictor was loneliness. Loneliness. number one risk factor was when somebody they had a scale that they were rating them on. And if they didn't have anybody else in their life and if they were lonely, it reduced their life expectancy more than smoking, cardiovascular, any of the other things. I'm just the reason that's coming to my mind is you guys are talking about we have coffee once a week, we go to church together, we volunteer together. Like that is so powerful to have people. Often on, twelve to thirteen different people that show up at coffee. It it's a big you know, a big group, but you never know from Tuesday to Tuesday who's coming, you know. But Yeah, we're getting ready for our retreat in October. We always have a retreat. Usually go to Pos Tanglewood. Yeah. Tanglewood, yeah. This year we're gonna go to Medicine Park. We've already got our our place up there and we'll be gone about three or four days. We do that every year. Every gear. And do you call that a retreat? Who who d is that just you guys or who no, there's well the first well, one year we had twenty one of us and we had beds everywhere. Bodies everywhere. People snoring everywhere around us. This time we have like fourteen wars going. Yeah, but but it's just nice to get together and All of us laugh and have a good time. So yeah. No men what's that? No men. No men. No men. We don't let any men in. Hey, listen, I'm just thankful y'all let me, you know, be a part of the crew for the day and I'm I'm r I'm thinking about getting me a tattoo, but yeah. Well that's not our only one. We'll can't show you you that's Incredible. What Sue, I think you were telling me there's you're looking at maybe having a cart where you go instead of kinda being stuck to the first floor. What's that gonna be? And try to go around and s sell more in and reach areas of the hospital that are not being able to Get popcorn or know we exist. So I love it. Yeah, I'm really excited about that. That's awesome. And it's for Children's Miracle Network, so what's better than that? So that was one of the questions I wanted to ask. The proceeds of this is Ch Children's Children's Miracle Network. Yes. Yeah. Awesome. What a great Yeah. I can't think of a better cause. Yeah. But that's what really motivated us to volunteer because we were all, you know, to help babies what gets better than that. So yeah. And then in the process you've started Yeah meeting other people and finding out feels good. And you see that you saw the wisdom of why your mom said you need to do this. You need to do this. Yeah. Yeah. Well she knew I never kept my mouth shut. So she knew I'd be good at it. No wonder we're getting along so well. Yeah, yeah, yeah. man. tell me you guys, and I'm sure not every s moment in your life is full of joy and all those sorts of things, but you all all three of you as we're sitting here. There's a there's a just a joy, right, that that you guys have and a zest for life as we're talking. So talk to me about just what do you think are the keys to living a joyful life? For me, I'm a Christian. And that my faith is very, very strong. And I think f for me I have to have faith. When I lost my husband a few years ago, if I didn't hadn't have had my faith, I don't know what I'd done or these ladies right here. my faith has carried me through many decades in different things in my life. And that's just very important to me. That's what keeps me going. Being thankful every day. Be very thankful for just waking up every morning. Yeah. You know, and I think it's important to have i if if that's your religion. That's It's not a religion to me. It's a relationship with God. Well, you're f you're you've built on some, you know, a foundation that even when you go through what you've been through some dark days, you're still able to come out the other side and say, I can still I can still have a joyful life despite the hard the hard things. Yeah. Powerful. And you said another thing I want to come back to is thank thankfulness. Being thankful. it annoys me to no end that I can stop. And write down three things I'm grateful for and feel better. People say, you know, people say, hey, if you'll just write down a couple of things you're grateful for, you feel better. I'm like, that's not gonna do it. That's not gonna make me feel better. And then it does. It's it's insane how much better you can feel just by stopping for a couple of moments. Yeah. It turns out all I need is to just stop and think about the things that have to be grateful. Yeah. Yeah. I have a I have a a dog, his name is Mr. Butler. What kind? He's a German shepherd. Okay, Mr. Butler. Mr. Butler. And I'm so thankful for him. because he protects me and he makes me laugh. And when people wanna know if I have a man in my life, I said, Yes, I do. His name is Mr. Butler. They don't know what's my dog. So just leave me alone. I'm engaged, okay? Leave me alone. Noted. Yeah. So what about you? Anything to add? Living a joyful life? very, very blessed for sure. 'Cause when my husband passed away I I left my home and got married. So I had never been alone. And so it was scary. Very scary. We were married fifty five years, so but through these ladies and and all the support that I had, it was just like God just Took me right, you know, through everything. And and I have a lady dog. I have a cocker spaniel. cocker spaniel. Sissy dog. Yeah, sissy dog. Do get a does cocker spaniel, lady dog get along with Mr. Butler? Do we know? They no, we don't know. Okay. Anything to add? Keys to a joyful life? They covered it all? I've been very blessed to have these two women in my life. Yeah. I was alone that thirteen years and they feel a lot of that absence that I didn't have. I 'cause I didn't I have a close family, they became my family. I love And I appreciate more than anybody will ever know. I love dearly. And when she remarried, she told him, I come with a group. I love it. You got you gotta love my ladies or this isn't gonna work. That's a package deal. And he is yeah. She's number one, she's number two and I'm number three. So Well I'm I I gotta tell you, I'm picking up on a theme from this this the whole talk we've been having, the theme that's coming back to me over and over again is relationships. And I can't I y'all keep reminding me of there's a scripture and and I don't ask me to quote chapter and verse, a better Bible scholar would be able to, but I know the scripture's there and it talks about two is better than one, because they have a better return. And if you're by yourself when you fall down, yeah, who's gonna help you? Right. And you but if you have somebody else with you and And then it talks about if you're if you're cold, two can keep warm. And then it ends with a a three strand cord is not easily broken. So that's what you guys are making me think of. Yeah. You guys are the three musketeers, a three, a three strand cord that you guys are str a strength to each other. But then where to this is where it just gets so cool to me is not only your strength to each other, but because of that, you're serving in a capacity that's that's lifting a lot of other people up, bringing a lot of joy and a lot of value to a lot of other people. and I think the thing that that fires me up the most about what you guys are doing and and to be honest, until I talked to you just now, it had never occurred to me. I was thinking popcorn ladies, the staff love you, right? That's what I was thinking. I wasn't thinking about how many emergency department and ICU patients walk right past you and then you're able to be there on the worst many times the worst day of somebody's life is when themselves or their family is Coming into the emergency department or walking up to the hospital, they're scared, they're lonely, the all those things and then y'all are there with popcorn and joy and prayer. I mean, my goodness. That's you cannot put a price on what that means. incredible. We've been trying to get a raise, but I'll talk I'll talk to we'll talk to Kim about that school. Kim just said I'll give you a few extra hours. Yeah, she'll give us some hours. Yeah, like that's gonna give you well look Yeah, for anybody that's wondering, Kim's over here off screen, so we're throwing we're we're we're we're getting our Well, I don't you know, I hate to I I not don't hate to. I love it. I can't I couldn't hide it if I wanted to, but I'm coming back to church again. But my I I I'm a associate pastor or I my dad's the big pastor and I'm the little pastor. That's what my tattoo says. It says Little Pastor. L I L pastor. I'm kidding. however, that's my rapper name, little pastor. but my mom my whole life has said working for the church doesn't pay real good, but the retirement is out of this world. So you you guys are building up a pretty good retirement, I would say. I love it. Well anything you guys want to share about volunteering, anything about United Regional or about yourselves that I haven't asked you that I should have before we sign off today? I just don't think there'd be any place better to volunteer for. And Kim and Larissa are amazing and we're so We're so lucky to be able to work with them. So Absolutely. Shout out to Kim and and Larissa and the whole volunteer team. yeah, everybody. But yeah. An incredible group of people and we're thankful for them. Yes. All the work that they do. And and I would just like to add too, was talking about people being lonely. You know, if there's somebody out there that's lonely and just needs something, do volunteer work, you know. Do something for other people because you'll get more back out of that. And it'll get you out of that lonely spot because you won't be just sitting there in the middle of it just grieving. Yeah. And and just wanting somebody so bad. Touch is important. We're all huggers. You know, touch is important for people. You've got to have friends. You you know, if you may not have family around. Yep. So find you some friends, do volunteer work. Promise you it will bring you up instead of down. Yep. Amen to that. I and I don't I don't know who's the first to say it. I know I've heard Dave Ramsey say this a couple of times. He says, if you're feeling down, go help somebody. Cause it's hard to have a pity party when you're serving somebody else. That's right. And I have found that to be so true. My goodness. If I'm feeling down and then you go help somebody, you it pulls you out of that. Takes your mind off you. It it does exactly right. It takes your mind off of you. And it there's Again, I'll go science here for a second, but there the science is showing overwhelmingly how much good happens in your mind and body when you serve other people. and there's a lot of burnout in healthcare and in the world and gender people just get tired. And for a long time the theory was they're getting tired because they care too much. and so the answer was care less and you won't be as tired. And that that turned out to not be true at all. what and we know we know that. but what it what they're seeing in the research now is when you show compassion or f physical touch to somebody else, it actually it actually ignites the pleasure center in the brain when you help somebody else. to a to an extent that not many other things do. And so it's healing for both people. It's it's helping heal the person by touching them and being there for them, but it's also helping heal me and helping heal you. It's it's incredible. We know that from from scripture, but It's really cool to me now that you we're starting to see that in in in the medical science as well. And also laughter is good medicine too. I mean, when we're all together we get enough laughter. We get so much laughter. I mean, all of us all of us just laugh the whole constantly. That's what we do. you haven't heard anything. Well the cameras are rolling, so yeah, bad. Yeah. You've tried to tone it too. You've kept it, PG, you've done good. You've done good. We're proud of you. Yeah. At our age you can say what we want to. Yeah, yeah. But I'd like to give a shout out to the valet parking also. Yes. 'Cause they park our car and have it back on time and they're they're an awesome group of men. So amazing. We really appreciate them. And crew. They're they're incredible. Yeah. Call him Ozzie. I think we actually have him scheduled to to be on here. really? I think next month. He's coming up at some point. I don't know when, but we've got him scheduled, so I'm excited to have him on here. Yeah, yesterday when we were leaving, he was pulling a car, taking a car, and he was like this with us. We never know with him, but yeah, we we love them. They're just so great. Well, it has been my honor to get to hang out with you guys today, know a little bit more about you, and I'm gonna mark my calendar for Thursdays to come make sure make sure I pop by and say hello. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, absolutely. Thanks for bringing your dollar. I will now I'll one of my coworkers will step in and help me out a bit. People will stop and not even buy popcorn but donate, yeah. When they know it's what it's for, they'll just Yeah. All of a sudden say, Well, here, let me do this and they'll give us money. Yeah. Thank you for having us. Appreciate you guys. Appreciate it very much. Thank you.