Dedication and Compassion: Colorado Hospital Volunteer Gives 45 Years
Intermountain Health’s Lutheran Medical Center celebrated Bonnie Hayes on Wednesday for 45 years and more than 20,000 hours of serving the hospital, caregivers, and patients.
Her tenure equals someone who worked 40 hours a week for 10 years.
Lutheran Medical Center volunteers and caregivers gathered at the hospital with friends and family members of Hayes for refreshments and sharing.
Hayes got her start as a volunteer thanks to her firefighter husband and hearing calls from his work radio. In the 1970s a person could hear all the radio traffic for first responders. On one call she overheard a responder talking to a sexual assault victim. The treatment of the victim was uncaring, she said.
“I thought that was wrong and I didn’t want to hear that happen to anyone else,” Hayes said.
She took a class for people who could provide emotional support to emergency room patients who were victims of sexual assault. That was 1978. The program that was created provided women and a few men on call 6 p.m.-6 a.m. to go to the hospital and support victims. They coordinated with families, provided clothing, arranged transportation, and helped with interactions with law enforcement if victims were hesitant to talk with them.
Hayes believes the program was the first of its kind in the region. It ended after 25 years with the creation of a sexual assault nurse examiner role. A formal program to serve the entire region was designated at another hospital.
Hayes retired from her 30-year teaching career in 2001. Her volunteer work continued. She was chairman of the volunteer leadership committee and coordinated vendor fairs that raise money for hospital projects. She also has managed the lost and found with hospital security.
Photo cutline: Bonnie Hayes, center, is congratulated by fellow volunteers at Lutheran Medical Center, Mary Taylor and Dave Santiago. The hospital celebrated Hayes on Wednesday for her volunteerism that spanned 45 years.