Honors Volunteers
Westview Health Care Center recently honored its volunteers and is looking for more. Courtesy photo.

Westview Health Care
honors volunteers
DAYVILLE — Westview Health Care Center recently honored its volunteers. Administrator David Panteleakos said, “We like to take time to acknowledge the enrichment of our patient’s and resident’s lives through volunteer service.  I am so appreciative of the generous donation of time and service by these wonderful individuals.”
Nov. 16 Westview invited these dedicated volunteers to a facility-hosted appreciation dinner. The masters of ceremony for this occasion are the two Westview staff members who create the programs calling for this corps of volunteers:  Therapeutic Recreation Director Louise Taylor and Assistant Therapeutic Recreation Director Vicki Ericson.  Specifically, Ericson is the volunteer coordinator, maintaining the schedules of current members while continually recruiting even more members.  She understands their deep value, finding a correlation between enthusiastic volunteers and diverse activity programming.  In her words:  “If it weren’t for our volunteers we wouldn’t have the quality recreation program that we do.  They keep the ball rolling, providing not just essential assistance but also peace of mind to Louise and I when we are in the midst of an event.  They graciously offer their time to make events at Westview just that much better.” The ages of these volunteers are as varied as the skills they are offering.  Some are musicians who fill the dining room with their melodies, some are deft bakers who fill the hallways with the aromas (and deliveries) of their confections, some are ministers who fill the hearts and minds of religiously devoted patients with their words and rituals, and some are here on a near every day basis filling the facility’s need for an excess of smiling.
Westview Health Care Center has announced their desire to expand the Volunteer program, and they are currently appealing for more members of the team.  Interested individuals should contact Vicki Ericson at (860) 774-8574 ext. 151 for information about these opportunities.