Dukr Hospital, InterCom
Page 3
The Ladies in Pink "^Have Given Duke a Heart^
CANDY JONAS, pretty Auxiliary volunteer, previews tashions in Easter bunnies for Dayle
Flammia, 11 months, a bright-eyed little patient from Raleigh.
By Wendell Weiseiid
Duke Hospital has a million-dollar
investment that didn’t cost a cent:
the Women’s Anxiliary.
Not only are these 400-plus f'ood-
will ambassadors like a million dollars
to the Hospital, but the Auxiliary
also bears interest.
All the “little things” these vol
untary workers have done for patients
and staff alike during the last four
years are now taken for granted, but
sometimes it’s hard to realize that
they are res])onsible for a number of
improvements in the Hospital.
After the first year of oj)eration
(1950-51), the Auxiliary gave $750
to help sujiport a cancer research
])ro.iee1 at Duke. In 1952, they in
stalled a new' $()()() coffee counter and
snack bar iu the main lobby, and last
year they donated to the lIo.s])ital a
$1200 rocking bed, latest innovation in
treatment of ])olio patients.
Today the Auxiliary announces its
latest major project: Sending a ho])e-
ful young North Carolina girl
through the Duke School of Nursing.
ilartha Ann Kedfern, of Hamp
stead Toj)sail High School near
Wilmington, has always wanted to
be a nurse, and she will get her chaiuie
when sh(‘ enters the three-year nurs
ing dii)loma program at Duke in
June. It will cost the Auxiliary
about $500 before she comjiletes her
work, but the Auxiliary will consider
the money well-si^ent for a girl who
hopes to do just what her voluntary
sponsors are doing: serving humani
ty-
When the Auxiliary holds its
foui-th annual meeting in .May to re
view what they have accom]>lished
and what they ho|)e to do in the
future, they will find that the more
than 17,000 vohintary hours of hard
work contributed during 195:5 is (>x-
ample enough of why they have be
come an integral and indis])ensable
part of the Duke medical center.
The coffee counter, shoj), ice cream
and library carts are among the i)opu-
lar “taken for granted” service proj
ects of the Auxiliary, as well as a
guide service for ])atients and visitors.
Then there are such incidentals as
running errands, collecting lost chil
dren and generally pitching in whei'-
ever needed.
If there is any one pet project, how
ever, it’s the Annual Thanksgiving
Sale. The I’oason is (piite simi)le;
Funds from tiie sale are used to
d(‘corate tlu“ Children’s Wards at
(’hristmas tinu‘, and to make certain
that no hospitalized ciiild goes with
out a Christmas present.
Fi'oni time to time throughout the
year, the Auxiliary also has giv(‘n a
record jjlayer, an a(iuarium, comic
books and othei’ gifts to the children’s
wards at Duke, and tiu' North Caro
lina ('erebral Palsy Hospital is now
included in tlu“ Auxiliary’s budget
to see that these young s|)astic pa
tients from throughout the State ai'e
not lacking for a birthday jiresent, or
for clothes and toys.
All the wonderful imagination and
initiative of these unselfish women is
summed uj) in a little bookh't, “Who
We Ar(‘ aiul What We Do,” which
won a ])rize last Summer at the
American Hospital Association’s an
nual convention. Dtdve Hospital
Women’s Auxiliary rei)r(‘sentatives
also have personally helped in s(>ttiiig
uj) similar organizations in other com-
nnniities in North Carolina and in
other States, and the booklet is aimed
at helping even uu>re wonu'u interest
ed in establishing auxiliaries.
Th(‘ I'liiversity cominiuiity really
isn’t unmindful of what the Auxiliary
has done, since doctors and staff will
readily tell you that “They have
given the institution a heart.”
“An Anxiliary plays u vital part
in tlu> operation of any hospital, i>ar-
ticularly in making i^atients feel at
home and increasing the morah* of
the Hospital staff,” they exj)lain.
Hut the medical center really needs
a separate bankbook to keep track of
all the tangible and intangible assets
the Women's Auxiliary has contribut
ed.
Adinillance Record
{Continued from paye 1)
to the public and ]>rivate out-])atient
clinics.
The consecutive admittance i-ecord
begfui iu 1945 when 14,4:57 patiimts
were admitted. The figure has grown
steadily since then to the ])resent 2:!-
year high.