Phyllis Engstrom is a veteran volunteer

Meet Phyllis Engstrom

We have known Phyllis for a long time and bumped in to her recently at Highline Hospital where she is a member of the staff of volunteers so I asked her to tell us about her experience there.

This is what she said.

"I love to tell people about volunteering. My hope is that I can encourage others to get out there and experience the joy of giving some time, too.

While I was once employed by Highline Community Hospital, I also gave a few years to the King County Juvenile Court Diversion Program.

We counseled parents and their children involved in minor misdemeanors, cases that were referred to us by the prosecutor's office. We then placed the kids into an appropriate diversion activity where they could work off their penalty hours.

I spent some time as a volunteer at the hospital's intermediate care facility, Brookside, where we took care of folks that needed a professional facility after being hospitalized. They were senior citizens who needed some T.L.C. from caring professionals and those of us who volunteered a few hours a week.

When my husband and I moved to southwest Washington for business reasons, I needed to fill some vacant hours so I volunteered with Vancouver School District for 10 years.

Volunteering now with Highline Medical Center in the cancer care clinic and with American Cancer Society has been fulfilling.

The role of patient/nursing support volunteer is very rewarding in giving comfort to those folks going through a rough period in their lives and also assisting the professional staff in their vital roles to maintain the health of the patients.

We are the lab runners, lunch servers and help with answering questions and solving some problems for those patients needing guidance with transportation issues or whatever is their concern during treatment.

My husband and I have also found the joy of working with the military and their families through our involvement with the USO.

We work twice a month for 4-hour shifts at the facility located at Sea-Tac Airport.

Just being there to extend four friendly greeting and preparing sandwiches, maintaining the facility and assisting in difficulties they may encounter in their travels is really rewarding especially during this wartime period our nation is experiencing.

There is life after retirement and it can be combined with volunteering and also the fun we have playing golf, traveling, ballroom dancing and, most of all, taking care of our own health through exercise programs.

I also volunteered in Vancouver, tutoring people of all ages who never developed reading skills. Our job was to help them earn a G.E.D., learn to read to children and help with homework, go shopping and pass a driver's test.

One person I remember was injured severely with brain damage by a drunk driver and unable to work. He could not drive and he had no long-term memory.

After working with him long term, he passed his driving test and worked with the police department counseling convicted drunk drivers.

We were both recognized for our work.

This was one of my finest moments in my volunteering years.