From left: Kenneth L. Davis, MD; Jennifer Price, President, The Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board; Claudia Colgan; Cynthia Levy; and Peter W. May.
More than 1,200 volunteers who provide assistance to The Mount Sinai Hospital and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai were recognized at a breakfast on Wednesday, April 13, during National Volunteer Week.
“Today we celebrate Mount Sinai’s volunteers and the energy and compassion they bring to patient care, office support, and research,” said Peter W. May, Chairman, Boards of Trustees, Mount Sinai Health System.
The tradition of service to Mount Sinai began in the 1880s, when volunteers taught hospitalized children. Today, requests for volunteers to support inpatient and outpatient units, the Emergency Department, and research are rising and programs are growing and evolving in response.
Care and Respect for the Elderly (CARE) has expanded from the Emergency Department to inpatient units through “CARE II: Up and About!” The Pet-Assisted Therapy program continues to be popular, and available sites now include the Dubin Breast Center of The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai. Today, the “Music for Healing” program offers music in the Guggenheim Pavilion Atrium and at the bedside. In addition, hundreds of students volunteer in research-related activities.
“You make an extraordinary difference at Mount Sinai,” Kenneth L. Davis, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mount Sinai Health System, told the volunteers. “I receive letters every day about the quality of care at Mount Sinai. Lots of them are very positive and often the positive letters make note of the volunteers.”
Claudia Colgan, Vice President for Care Coordination, Mount Sinai Care, said, “The Volunteer Program is a huge success, a direct result of the skill and dedication of Cynthia Levy, Kaye Derman, and their team, who select the best volunteer applicants and carefully match them to assignments.” Ms. Levy is Director, and Ms. Derman is Assistant Director, of the Department of Volunteer Services. “It is a great pleasure to celebrate Mount Sinai’s outstanding volunteers—who are found in more than 200 placement areas—and their supervisors,” said Ms. Levy. “We are also fortunate to have the opportunity to acknowledge The Mount Sinai Auxiliary Board, who, 100 years ago, set the standard for commitment and caring and laid the groundwork for the Department of Volunteer Services.”