Baptist Golden Triangle Names Volunteer Of The Year

COLUMBUS, Miss., Sept. 25, 2015 (Press Release) – Harold Weeks has been selected Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle’s 2015 Auxiliary Volunteer of the Year. Since joining the Auxiliary in 2008, he has volunteered more than 3,800 hours to the hospital.

His primary volunteer duty includes working in the hospital’s Critical Care Unit Waiting Room. He is also the chairperson for his department of volunteers, providing assistance in training and mentoring for his group.

The Volunteer of the Year is selected by Auxiliary members each year and recognizes the member who has provided outstanding service to the organization.

“We are very happy to recognize Volunteer of the Year Harold Weeks for his dedication to those family members in the CCU waiting room who need special support, said Baptist Golden Triangle Administrator Paul Cade. “We are proud of all of our volunteers who are such an important part of our patient care team here at Baptist Golden Triangle,” he added.

Originally from Quincy, Mass., Weeks joined the U.S. Air Force and was eventually stationed at Columbus Air Force Base in July 1965. He retired from the Air Force in 1971, and in 1975 he took a job with the security department at Mississippi University for Women, retiring from that position in June 1990.

Weeks and his wife Anna May were married for more than 57 years before she died in 2007. The couple had four children; one son Harold Weeks, Jr. who died in a car accident in 1994, and three daughters; Robin Jordan, Bonnie Weeks and Cheryll Doughty.

It was after his own personal experience with his wife in the Critical Care unit, and with encouragement from one of their daughters, that he decided to become a volunteer at the hospital. He soon joined the hospital’s Auxiliary and asked specifically to work in the Critical Care Waiting room. A spot was available for two days a week and Weeks volunteered for both days. Since then, he has been helping patients’ family members in the CCU waiting area on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Weeks is a member of the First Christian Church where he has served as a deacon and is currently an elder.
“It truly takes a special person to work with CCU patient family members who are hurting, and Harold is just that – a very special man,” said Volunteer Coordinator Cathy Johnson. “He has a calm, sweet nature that puts our family members at ease during their difficult time. We are so proud and forever grateful to have Harold as an Auxiliary Volunteer. He exemplifies the true meaning of compassion and dedicated service,” Johnson added.

Weeks will join Volunteer of the Year selections from hospitals across the state that will be recognized by the Mississippi Hospital Association in Jackson, Miss. on Oct. 9.

The hospital Auxiliary is an 80-member group whose members volunteer throughout the hospital every day of the week. In addition, members operate the hospital’s Gift Shop and host fund-raising projects that generate thousands of dollars for the hospital each year which are returned to the hospital through either purchased items or cash donations.

The Auxiliary last year committed to raise $120,000 to help purchase a second new ambulance for the hospital’s ambulance service. To date, the group has raised $60,000 towards that goal. The group in January 2013 fulfilled a 2011 pledge to donate $110,000 toward the purchase of a new ambulance. The total cost of the 2011 Dodge 4500 was $140,000.

With 315 beds, Baptist Golden Triangle is the largest regional hospital affiliated with the Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care system. With physicians and surgeons representing almost every medical specialty practicing at the hospital, Baptist Golden Triangle offers a wide range of comprehensive medical care to patients of all ages.

In addition to the Baptist Cancer Center, the hospital offers a variety of services to the community, Baptist Behavioral Health Care for those with behavioral and mental health problems, an emergency room with 24-hour ambulance service, an extensive rehabilitation department, and educational programs. Baptist Golden Triangle employs more than 1,000 health care professionals.

For more information, please call 662-244-1000 or visit http://goldentriangle.baptistonline.org or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Baptistgoldentriangle