Dynamic Duo: Couple enjoys volunteering at OHRH
Jul. 2—After a lifetime of working and looking after family, Dennis and Brenda Davis continue to give back to the community as a volunteer team in the Owensboro Health Regional Hospital gift shop.
Dennis Davis first began volunteering at the hospital about 10 years ago, but before that he participated in Patients and Families on Teams, a group of community members and stakeholders as the new hospital was being planned out.
His wife Brenda joined him volunteering at the hospital about four years ago.
"He had done it for several years and I was watching the grandkids," she said. "When they all got old enough to go to school, I just thought it would be something I would enjoy doing."
These days the pair typically volunteer one day a week at the hospital's gift shop, located adjacent to the main entrance to the facility.
"Both of us started out in the office, both of us and we delivered flowers, cards, did paperwork and stuff like that," Brenda Davis said. "I enjoyed it but an opening came up in the gift shop and I thought I would like to try that and later on he joined me in there."
Dennis Davis said that he has never met a stranger, and always tries to bring some positivity with him to volunteer at the hospital.
"I deliver flowers for the gift shop to the rooms, of course you don't spend much time in there, but I always try to be happy and jolly," he said.
Davis said for those considering volunteering at the hospital, it is important to remember that the staff treat the volunteers well, and they will not be asked to do something they are uncomfortable with.
"They are not going to put you in a situation where you don't need to be," he said.
Brenda Davis said volunteers do have a say in what areas they help out in.
"They let you choose where you want to be; if you try something and don't like it, they will move you to something else and keep trying until they find something you like," she said.
When it comes to favorite memories from their experiences as volunteers, Denis said it would have to be when he was a part of the Patients and Families on Teams group during the planning phases of the hospital.
For Brenda Davis, it was a particular memory from the gift shop comes to mind.
"One morning, we were working in the gift shop and three nurses came in from the ER and they said we need a birthday present; we have a 6-year-old patient" she said. "They bought that child I don't know how much stuff, and I just thought how special that was."
Kelly Armour, director of employee engagement, said volunteers are an important part of the hospital team.
"I just think they are priceless and it is sort of the community stepping into our walls and embracing us and our patients and our team members," Armour said.
The Davises agree that volunteering is a rewarding experience for them both.
"I think if you go through life with the philosophy that if you give a blessing you will get one back, it works that way," Dennis Davis said. "The Lord takes care of you like that."
