Lexington Medical Center Celebrates Volunteers

WEST COLUMBIA, SC _ April 21, 2009 –  Lexington Medical Center is celebrating National Volunteer Week by honoring its 400 hospital volunteers with a luncheon, awards ceremony and special recognition.

At a luncheon on Monday, April 20th, volunteer Jeanette Sox received the prestigious Thelma Busbee Volunteer of the Year Award for clocking the most volunteer hours in 2008:  *956!*  That’s more than 18 hours per week of unpaid service.  Ms. Sox, who is nearly 80 years old, lives in West Columbia and has volunteered at Lexington Medical Center since 2004.  She spent the majority of her volunteer time in 2008 in Guest Services and Oncology.

In addition, there were ten Lexington Medical Center volunteers at the luncheon who each clocked more than *500* volunteer hours in 2008.  

From left to right: Jeanette Sox, Faye Smith, J.C. Sutton, Dale Key, Margaret Ford, Lynda Pittman, Monroe Brown, Vera Campbell and Sandra Dodd. 

Lexington Medical Center also has people who have been volunteers for up to 38 years.

Each day at Lexington Medical Center, volunteers make a difference helping patients. They spent 58,491 hours last year delivering flowers and cards, staffing information desks, facilitating pet therapy and assisting patients in departments around the hospital. In addition, the Lexington Medical Center Volunteer Auxiliary awarded $52,000 in nursing scholarships, spent nearly $175,000 on the purchase of medical equipment, funded care notes for pastoral care and paid for the public safety children’s program. They also funded renovations for the pediatric floor, furnishings for the south lobby and chapel and new buses for the Child Development Center. And, the volunteer arts and crafts committee made holiday tray favors for patients and sewed scrub hats for pediatric surgical patients.

About Lexington Medical Center
Lexington Medical Center, in West Columbia, S.C., anchors a county-wide health care network that includes six community medical centers throughout Lexington County and employs a staff of 5,100 health care professionals.  The network also includes the largest extended care facility in the state, an occupational health center and physician practices.  At its heart is the 384-bed state-of-the-art Lexington Medical Center, with a reputation for the highest quality care.  Lexington Medical Center was voted one of the “Best Places to Work” by the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, “Best Hospital” by readers of The State for nine years in a row, “Best Hospital” by readers of the Free Times and “Best Place to Have a Baby” by readers of Palmetto Parent.  Visit www.lexmed.com or www.lexmed.tv.