Gifford Auxiliary fuels development
Eighty-one years ago, a baby girl was born in her grandmother’s house in Stockbridge, Vermont. That baby girl would be called Shirley and grow up to have babies (and grandbabies) of her own. She’d begin her work life in the early 1960s, putting in long hours at Waterbury Plastics through the next decade. Next she’d fill a supervisory role in the shipping department at Vermont Castings and, later, positions at Vermont Technical College.
Shirley Russell
Today, Shirley Russell, a 12-year veteran of the Gifford Medical Center Auxiliary and a 16-year volunteer with GMC, may be retired, but she’s not at all retiring. During a recent interview she’s warm and outgoing – beaming in a pink shirt and blue-and-white sweater vest, finds she picked up at the Auxiliary Thrift Shop, she reveals – and is quick to offer a hug.
“I need to be busy,” said Shirley after a Thursday shift volunteering. “I can’t sit still. I’m a people person, and I’m not one to sit at home.”
Shirley is at the shop before many of us have had our morning coffee. She begins her shift at 6 a.m. on Mondays and goes until 1 p.m. “or until whatever time I get my work done.” She works every weekday except Tuesday and also pitches in on occasional Saturdays.
“I pull old stuff off [the racks] and put new stuff up, clean shelves and make them look nice and neat, work the counter, mark and put away miscellaneous, and sometimes help sort and mark children’s clothes,” said Shirley.
This high-energy senior is one of the 103 community members who currently serve with the Auxiliary. Under various names, the group has worked to benefit Gifford since 1906. In the early days, members hosted square dances and harvest balls, sold refreshments at horse shows, made and mended hospital linens, kept a cow to provide milk for patients, and spearheaded countless other initiatives to support Gifford and the community. The member-run thrift shop, where Shirley works, is a driving economic force and a favorite community destination.
Together, since 1977, Auxiliary members have donated thousands of hours and over $1 million through their Wish List fund, a program which has provided a dizzyingly long list of items requested by providers and staff across the medical center, from the Birthing Center to the Emergency Department to Radiology. In addition, they’ve fueled large-scale projects, including pledging $1 million over five years toward the development of Morgan Orchards Senior Living Community, a goal they’ll soon realize, and most recently, $200,000 to support the new Women’s Health Center at Gifford, slated for completion in September 2020.
The numbers are impressive, but octogenarian David Peirce, another longtime volunteer and Auxiliary member, says it’s really about the people.
“The people, absolutely the people, are one of the greatest assets,” said David, who was one of only two men in the room during his first Auxiliary meeting in 2008.
“The employees are always wanting to help, always smiling. All the people here are just wonderful, and they know you.”
David Peirce
David and his wife, Lori, both military veterans, first came to know Gifford through the thrift shop. They’d recently bought a house in Vermont after traveling the country in an Airstream for 10 years, post-retirement, and had developed a love for exploring second-hand stores.
“We’d been to thrift shops all over the country,” said David. “This is one of the best.”
Lori joined the Auxiliary first and invited her husband as a guest. A short time later he became vice president and later president – the first and only male president in the Auxiliary’s long history – and also served as the group’s secretary.
In addition to his work with the Auxiliary, for the last eight years David has spent several hours a month keeping track of volunteer hours at Gifford, entering the information into a spreadsheet.
“I can type and do data entry,” said David, whose vast professional experience includes eight-and-a-half years of active duty as an intelligence offer in the United States Navy and 18 years in the Reserve. He also owned an appliance sales and service business in Keene, N.H., before retiring at age 56.
When not volunteering at Gifford, David can be found serving with Lori at the Randolph post of the American Legion – she is the commander, a role David formerly filled – or playing golf, or caning chairs, a skill he recently developed. His finished work can be found in the homes of Gifford employees, including Dr. Lou DiNicola’s.
“I am now known as the Chair Doctor,” David said.
Next Generation
Newer to the Gifford volunteer scene is Megan Harvey, 28, of Brookfield. Megan was born at the medical center and raised in Rochester. She says Carol Bushey, her boss at Frankenburg Agency in Randolph and a Gifford board member, encouraged her to get involved.
“Carol has a very big heart and loves to give back to the community, for herself and Frankenburg, so part of my job is to give back to the community,” said Megan, who joined the Auxiliary in April 2019 and volunteers one or two days a month in the thrift shop. “She said she wanted me to take that on, so I started.”
Megan fills in where she’s needed at the store, working the cash register or bagging.
“It’s become a fun thing for me to do,” she said. “I love it. Making people smile, making people happy. Anywhere I go, you never know what someone has going on in their life. I like to make them feel welcome, like I’m there for them.”
Megan also serves on Gifford’s development committee and is working toward becoming a Gifford Ambassador. Outside Gifford, she volunteers with the Randolph Rotary, White River Valley Chamber of Commerce, and Randolph Area Food Shelf. At home, she’s mother to a 3 ½-year-old son, Hunter.
Megan encourages more young people to donate their time.
“I am a lot younger than most of the volunteers [at the thrift shop], so people are surprised by that,” she said. “You can also do it! You don’t have to be retired and fully committed to volunteering. I see customers who are excited to see me here, and I love getting to know my counterparts. We’re all at different stages of life.”
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For more information about the Auxiliary and other volunteer opportunities at Gifford, email Ashley Lincoln at , or call 802-728-2380.
In Support of Women’s Health
Late in the fall of 2019, the Auxiliary laid the cornerstone for a new Women’s Health Center at Gifford with a pledge of $200,000. The generous gift sees Gifford halfway toward achieving its fundraising goal of $400,000 in support of the $1.8 million project.
The Women’s Health Center project will move Gifford’s OB-GYN and Midwifery clinic, currently located outside the main medical center building, to the south end of the medical center next to the Visitors Entrance and adjacent to the Birthing Center. Once housed within the medical center, OB-GYN team members and patients will be closer to other Gifford services and providers, easing patient access and improving upon continuity of care. The center will be 5,700 square feet – 1,240 square feet larger than the current OB-GYN and Midwifery space – and include a new designated Procedure Room, Ultrasound Room, Phlebotomy Room and Lab in addition to provider offices and midwife on-call space.
The Women’s Health Center also will include meeting space for nursing education as well as patient education and access to resources, like social services, to improve overall health and quality of life. For example, there will be designated space for private counseling with a Gifford social worker, to address issues like housing and food insecurity, and for special programs such as prenatal and parenting classes.
“We are creating a centralized space to optimize our delivery of exceptional health care for women,” said Gifford President and CEO Dan Bennett. “The foundation of trust we have built with Vermont women starts with our Birthing Center. Because of that trust, women come back to Gifford for subsequent care and procedures, for themselves and their families. Establishing the Women’s Health Center is an opportunity to build upon that trust and further lead in patient care.”
Phase 1 of the project began in January 2020. A grand opening is slated for the end of September.
