When Donna Steinheiser's husband died six years ago, she could not return to Butler Meals on Wheels, a place the couple had spent their time volunteering.

“I couldn't go back there,” said Steinheiser, auxiliary president for the Butler Health System. “I just cried, I was useless.”

That is when several people recommended Steinheiser try volunteering at Butler Memorial Hospital.

“This is the best thing in my life. It's a reason I get out of bed in the morning,” she said. “It's just being here and being able to do something to help and to pay back your neighbors in your community.”

Steinheiser is one of more than 200 volunteers that make up the Butler Health System Auxiliary, volunteers who maintain and run the gift shop located in the Brady Street lobby of Butler Memorial Hospital.

The red vests are the symbol of the volunteers because the color stands out in a crowd, Steinheiser said.

Volunteers also assist staff and patients in other areas, including as ambassadors and in the auxiliary office, emergency room, D.E.A.R. program, occupational therapy, radiology, transitional care and pastoral care.

The proceeds earned through the gift shop, sales and other endeavors are given to the hospital to use to facilitate better patient care and services, Steinheiser said.

From 2016 to 2018, the volunteers raised $100,000 for the endocrinology department, $100,000 toward a stereotactic biopsy table and $100,000 to help remodel 6 Tower, she said. Each year volunteers contribute over 73,000 hours of service.

Volunteers also receive in-service training, said Cheryl Ramsey, hospitality services manager for the Butler Health System. Their role is to assist the hospital in every way possible, to create and foster a loyal and sympathetic understanding between the public and the hospital staff, and to sponsor and be responsible for maintaining the gift shop.

Arrangements are made to put the help where it is needed, she said.

Hospital administration and the BHS Foundation determine areas of need and that is presented to the auxiliary, which votes on which areas to contribute its funds toward, she said.

“They make a huge difference,” Ramsey said. “They are an integral part of the hospital — just their smiling faces when you walk in the door.”

As an ambassador, Steinheiser visits patients to check on their concerns and well-being and find the person who can best assist them, Steinheiser said.

“Often times patients families are confused, scared, don't know where to go, don't know what to do, and oftentimes we are able to have the time to walk them to the cafeteria and explain to them where they can park, to tell them what they can and can't do,” Steinheiser said.

On some occasions, ambassadors find elderly patients who do not have visitors or family, Steinheiser said.

“It's not unlikely that one of us will sit for awhile or play a game of cards,” she said, adding she keeps word searches and other activities handy. “Whatever we can do to make their stay more pleasant.”

One example of the care of volunteers is when Steinheiser said she followed a patient around the hospital and to their appointments because she was alone.

“Sometimes they just need someone to talk to,” she said.

Most of the volunteers are seniors or retirees, so flexible schedules and hours are available, she said.

“You have to have a compassion to work with people,” she said. “You have to enjoy people.”

The most rewarding part of the experience is the interactions with patients, Steinheiser said.

“Maybe I've brightened their day. Maybe I've made them feel like we truly care,” she said. “Sometimes there's people in this world who don't have that, and I can't think of a place worse to be than a hospital and not feeling well and to feel like you're all alone.

“We fix that because you're not all alone.”