Gateway Medical Center volunteers surpass 50,000 hours

Gateway Medical Center volunteers donated over 50,000 hours of service to the Medical Center in 2012 – an all-time high in the history of the organization. More than 215 volunteers contributed to this total, including adults, students, chaplains and pets. Volunteers serve 36 of the Medical Center’s departments, including the information desks, gift shop, registration, nursing and outpatient areas.

Beginning in 1954, volunteers made the first curtains that hung in the original Clarksville Memorial Hospital. Through the 1970s, volunteers were called Pink Ladies, and the young women who volunteered on the nursing floors were called Candy Stripers. Today, they are simply known as Volunteers and VolunTeens. Gateway also has four-legged volunteers. Gateway was one of the first hospitals in Middle Tennessee to offer pet therapy, and has had as many as 10 working teams in our facility.
Director of Volunteers Sandy Wooten said, “Volunteers care for the personal needs of visitors, so that professional staff can concentrate on what they do best – meeting the medical needs of the patients. Gateway has been privileged to have many great volunteers for many years.”
Faithful Volunteer Virginia Lowe adds, “Gateway offers many ways for volunteers to serve the hospital and its patients. Since we are volunteering, we want to spend our time doing something we enjoy that makes us want to get up and go to work, as well as to serve others. It is gratifying that the staff shows their appreciation of the volunteers in numerous ways.”