West Palm Beach VA Medical Center

Dorothy Greenwald

Dorothy Greenwald has been volunteering at VA Medical Centers across the country for the past 54 years. This volunteer has had many assignments throughout her volunteer career, but the one that she enjoys the most is taking responsibility for the personal hygiene Welcome Kit Program. Dorothy has prepared over 69,000 personal hygiene kits for inpatients since the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center opened in 1995. She recently received her VA Presidential Life Time Award and has contributed over 23,000 hours of volunteer time.

She started volunteering many years ago at the West Haven VA Medical Center in Connecticut when her husband was a prisoner of war during the Battle of the Bulge. She felt she had to do something for the boys coming home so she started to teach Braille, helped make “Talking Books”, played bingo with the patients and began running the Welcome Kits Program. During this time, she also volunteered at the New Haven Railroad Station where she passed our comfort kits to the serviceman as they were leaving the country. When Greenwald moved to Florida, she continued to volunteer at the VA clinic in Riviera Beach and was responsible for ensuring that veterans were given any personal hygiene products they needed. That volunteer assignment continues today as she is the person responsible for over seeing the Welcome Kit Program.

Greenwald is married and her husband also serves as a volunteer at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. Greenwald says she “enjoys every minute of doing volunteer work and can’t wait to get up and come to work” at the West Palm Beach VA.

Submitted by Mary Phillips, Chief, Voluntary/Recreation Therapy Service.

John Martin

John Martin, Program Coordinator for the Veterans Computer Training Program, has been a volunteer for the past eleven years at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. He is a retired private business owner from New York who wanted to keep himself busy when he relocated to Florida. He has contributed over 8000 hours of volunteer service. Martin has been responsible for implementing and coordinating a volunteer staffed and run computer training program for the veterans.

The Veterans Computer Training Program teaches basic computer-use to veterans enrolled as patients at the Medical Center. The classes are taught in an informal manner, with a hands-on approach, six students at a time, and usually with two volunteer instructors present. Each session runs for two hours, one day a week for six consecutive weeks. Classes consist of three sessions of basic training and for veterans who wish additional training, one session of intermediate training is provided. Classes consist of appropriately twenty-four veterans enrolled in each class. Upon completion, a Certificate of Completion is awarded to each veteran by Volunteer Program Coordinator, John Martin.

The Computer Training Program’s primary goal is to teach veterans how to use e-mail which helps them to maintain contact with family and friends. A familiarization with the basic computer operating procedures has also widened the scope of many of the former students’ educational and career opportunities.

At this time, more than 1900 veterans have enrolled in the computer program and have completed the basic computer course. In addition to the training, the Veterans Computer Training Program provides refurbished personal computers for the veterans to use at home and over 300 refurbished computers have been distributed to the veterans when they meet the financial specifications.

Martin, Volunteer Program Coordinator, has 28 very active volunteers associated with the program and they serve as teachers, technicians, and office personnel.

Submitted by Mary Phillips, Chief, Voluntary/Recreation Therapy Service.

Mary Payne

After retiring from the Veterans Administration after 30 years of service in Nutrition & Food Service, what did Mary Payne do? She became a volunteer at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center. Prior to retiring, Mary was the Operational Manager of Nutrition & Food Service at the Medical Center. In her career as a Clinical Dietitian, Mary has worked at five VA facilities after completing her dietetic internship at the Hines VA Medical Center in Chicago.

As a volunteer, Mary mans most Tuesdays the hospitality cart for the Community Living Center at the Medical Center. A variety of nutritious snacks are offered the residents along with a smile. While employed, Mary initiated this program and finds it rewarding to see its continuity. Mary also is responsible for entering into the computer patient self-assessments associated with the MOVE (Managing Obesity/Overweight for Veterans Everywhere) Program. This is a national program designed by the National Center for Health Promotion. The program at the WPB VA features 6-weekly sessions that places emphasis on health and wellness through nutrition, physical activity, behavioral change, life time focus and individual tailoring to meet the needs of the veterans.

Why does Mary keep on coming back? “The VA is my family. I love the interaction with the patients and the staff.”

Submitted by Mary Ann Goodman and Audrey Atkinson, West Palm Beach VA Medical Center.