ST. CHARLES, MO – Some of SSM St. Joseph Health Center’s most dedicated employees aren’t even on the payroll. In 2009, 181 St. Joseph Health Center and St. Joseph Medical Park volunteers gave 26,158 hours of their time to help us help others. That’s equivalent to $497,002 in wages!
One of those volunteers recently exceeded the 10,000-hour milestone. That volunteer is Ruth “Snooks” Wessler, 75, who first began volunteering in the late 1960s.
Since then, she has volunteered at the information desk, gift shop, and now is a mainstay at the Surgery Waiting Room desk St. Joseph Health Center on Tuesday mornings. Her 10,000 hours equate to 417 24-hour days, or a year and 8 months...or $190,000!
“She rarely misses one of her shifts in the Surgery Waiting Room and she brings flowers to brighten up her desk for the families and often times make cookies, etc. to share with the doctors, staff, and families,” says Barb Hutchison, St. Joseph Health Center volunteer director.
Snooks and her husband Neal, who also volunteers, are truly dedicated to the SSM Mission. Snooks also has served countless hours on the hospital’s Auxiliary Board as the Corresponding Secretary and now as a valuable board member, who the board relies on for her wealth of knowledge.
“Snooks is invaluable. She has been around the hospital and auxiliary for many years and has so much knowledge of our history, she answers many of our questions and is always willing to help in any way,” Hutchison says. “She is a gem we want to keep around for many more years to come.”
Snooks was recently honored at an annual volunteer luncheon and received a $100 gift card to Parkview Gardens, one of her favorite places.
“People are very appreciative,” Snooks says. “Everyone has been so nice and I have really enjoyed it, especially volunteering in the Surgery Waiting Room. It makes me feel good that I’m there to help patients’ families.”
About SSM St. Joseph Health Center
SSM St. Joseph Health Center, a state-designated Level II Trauma Center, Chest Pain Center and Primary Stroke Center, is recipient of the Premier Award for Quality, Premier/CareScience Award for Excellence in Quality of Patient Care and Efficiency and Premier Award for Quality/National Leader in Heart Attack Care. The facility offers a broad range of exceptional services and houses SSM Cancer Care, the SSM Heart Institute, The Vascular Institute, SSM Center for Sleep Disorders and more. Along with SSM St. Joseph Hospital West, it is the largest provider of health care in St. Charles, Warren and Lincoln counties. St. Joseph Health Center and St. Joseph Hospital West are members of SSM Health Care, the first health care winner of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. For more information about St. Joseph Health Center, please visit www.ssmstjoseph.com
For more information, contact:
Rachel Peine
Communications Specialist
SSM St. Joseph Health Center
636-947-5621 (office)
314-908-0463 (pager)
Rachel_C_Peine@ssmhc.com