St. Peter's Auxiliary celebrates centennial

It's certainly a study in change: a circa-1904 photo, scanned and displayed on Jane Norris's computer monitor.

The photo highlights the humble beginnings of the St. Peter's Auxiliary: a group of women gathered around tables in a lush turn-of-the-20th-century living room, cutting bandages, stitching blankets and providing creature comforts for those at St. Peter's Hospital in Albany.

A hundred years later, says former auxiliary president Barbara Van Geest, they're still working to make sure a stay at St. Peter's is a good one.

Money-makers

According to Mrs. Norris, the hospital's volunteer coordinator, the auxiliary has long since moved out of the bandage business and into financial support. Each year, they oversee a constellation of fundraising opportunities and service projects for St. Peter's, from galas to Christmas wreaths.

Although they may also be hospital volunteers, to be an auxilian is to be a "behind the scenes" person concentrating on raising money for hospital projects, expansion campaigns and "little extras," said Mrs. Norris.

According to Mrs. Van Geest, there are approximately 180 auxilians; some serve on the main board, while others sit on a committee or two. Elderly auxilians keep in touch with the organization through its publication, Auxilioscope.

It is the auxiliary's goal to raise $50,000 for the hospital each year, which is distributed to various projects. To celebrate their centennial, the auxiliary presented St. Peter's with a check for $100,000, with $50,000 earmarked for the hospital's upcoming Capital Campaign and program expansion.

'A worthwhile cause'

Mrs. Van Geest, a Catholic, has been an auxilian for more than 10 years and has served as the organization's president twice.

"I enjoy it. It's a worthwhile cause," said the volunteer, who donates more than 500 hours of her time each year to the auxiliary. "Hospitals are the first places people go when there's any kind of problem, whether it's personal or medical. It's the place they know they can go to get help. It's a community hub."

She said much of the auxiliary's work centers on the families who come to St. Peter's: For instance, with privacy regulations barring the announcement of patients' names in the waiting area, the auxiliary is working on giving beepers to waiting family members to page them when a surgeon is coming to the waiting room to see them.

"This allows family members to go to the gift shop or outside to make a phone call, and they're not stuck sitting there, afraid to leave," said Mrs. Van Geest.

Cart on wheels

She is also partial to the Sunshine Cart, whose two volunteers offer coffee, crackers and conversation to waiting families to break up the monotony and nervousness of the wait.

"People love the cart," she explained. "You do get to hear about it. I think it's a wonderful service -- it makes people feel more at ease, because it's a horrible thing to go through, to wait."

Mrs. Norris listed some more of the auxiliary's programs:

* making special camisoles for women recovering from mastectomies;

* spearheading the Vials for Life program, which consolidates medical information for patients in a format easily accessible to emergency medical personnel;

* giving scholarships to medical students, nurses and others wishing to advance their education or career; and

* funding and running the gift shop, thrift shop, flower sales, hospital holiday decorations and baby pictures for new parents.

"They fund the little touches," said Mrs. Norris.

Back for more

Many auxilians get started in the organization after having a positive experience with St. Peter's. The current president, Linda Dolph, worked as a nurse at St. Peter's in the 1980s and stayed on with the organization as an Auxilian.

"It's a good, stable institution that has good community ties," said Mrs. Dolph, a parishioner of St. Pius X parish in Loudonville. "Volunteering is important. Those of us who are able to should give back to the communities that we live in and are involved with."

In the future, Mrs. Dolph envisions the auxiliary working to assist St. Peter's with its Capital Campaign and expansion project -- as well as expanding its own membership to deal with the fundraising challenges that particular event will incur.

"We've always felt where the community's need was -- whether it was making bandages 100 years ago, or offering support to people in the waiting room today. As the needs of the St. Peter's family change, hopefully we can meet those needs," she said.

(To learn more about the auxiliary, call 525-1515.)

(1/6/05)