Winter 2013
Volunteer Voice
A Newsletter for MD Anderson Volunteers
Saying goodbye to Steve Stuyck … a champion of volunteers Steve Stuyck wasn’t born at MD Anderson, but he got here as soon as he could. Originally from White Plains, N.Y., Steve spent his formative years in Houston before venturing to Austin to study for a degree in journalism from The University of Texas. With that under his belt, his next step was to work toward a graduate degree. However, the Army had other things in mind for him, adding two extra years before he got back to Austin. In 1972, Steve returned to Houston and began dual employment with M. D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute and the new UT Medical School, Houston. During his 40 years at MD Anderson, Steve has worn seven titles including his final one: vice president for public affairs. On July 1, 1992, Steve assumed management for The Department of Volunteer Services and he feels it’s been a mutual admiration society ever since. With his open door policy and obvious support of the Volunteer Services staff and the volunteers themselves, it’s no wonder that everyone is wondering who can possibly fill Steve Stuyck’s very large shoes. We’re all gonna During an impromptu visit, several members of the Volunteer Services management team gathered to say goodbye to Steve Stuyck. Pictured miss him! left to right are Maggi Suttles, Susan French, Wayne McHatton, Paula Stewart and Steve. Steve Stuyck, former vice president for public affairs at MD Anderson Cancer Center, retired on Jan. 2.
We’ll miss you, big time, Steve! Steve, your passionate advocacy on behalf of MD Anderson patients and caregivers has shown you to be an exemplary steward for this institution. Since you took on the administrative responsibility for Volunteer Services in 1992, you have helped raise the visibility and reputation of all Volunteer Services’ programs both inside the institution and in the community. We all appreciate your trust and support of our new ideas, your guidance when we make mistakes and your leadership that has led the way to consummate volunteer service and programming supporting patients, caregivers, faculty and staff. You have always been our advocate and this means more than you can imagine. Thank you doesn’t seem to be enough, but these are the words I offer you today. Susan French, executive director, Department of Volunteer Services
Odile Tyler, Richard Parker and Steve I first met Steve when he very kindly came to visit Bill and me when I was in the hospital. We enjoyed visiting with him then and have liked and respected him so much ever since. He is a special person who has done an excellent job in his position. We think he has contributed greatly to MD Anderson. We will miss him greatly! Cinda Matthews, volunteer
Steve, Mary Nell Lovett and John Mendelsohn, M.D. Steve with former volunteer Thommye Stewart As a volunteer, I have had the honor and privilege of working with Steve Stuyck for many years on many different projects. Seeing him retire is like losing a dear friend. Steve has never failed to be a strong and constant support to all volunteers. He served as our voice in so many instances! Personally, I would like to thank Steve for his loyalty to the Department of Volunteer Services and for his tireless dedication to MD Anderson. His friendship will never be forgotten and always appreciated. Thank you, Steve! Susan Fister, volunteer Steve and volunteer Kay Rogers
Steve, as vice president for public affairs, you were a constant cheerleader for volunteers. Your support and presence at Round Table meetings was a gift to us. Thank you. We love you and will miss you. I wish you happiness in your retirement. Donna Weisser, volunteer Steve has helped me too many times to list. His knowledge of MD Anderson history, the current ins and outs of how this huge place runs so smoothly and how it becomes the No. 1 cancer center in the world will be big shoes for someone to fill. His smile and upbeat personality are one of a kind. I will miss him. Marshall Loosier, volunteer In all the time I have known Steve, he has been a real friend of volunteers. He always had time to listen and respond to questions or concerns. He will be sorely missed. Jan Purzer Wallace, volunteer I always said, if you want to know anything about MD Anderson, ask Steve. Bill Schultz, volunteer page 2
It’s been a pleasure working in Public Affairs over the past 13 years! Steve has been the ideal “big boss.” His support of all of our Volunteer Services programs means a lot — there’s rarely been an event which he has been unable to attend. His support of the VEPS event means so much – if he’s in town, he’s promised to come again this year! It was a treat having his son Danny in our teen program. Now when I ask him how Danny is doing, boy do I feel old! Maggi Suttles, Volunteer Services staff It is very difficult to imagine Public Affairs without a Steve Stuyck — after all, he nurtured it, guided it and developed it into the dynamic division that it is today. It has been his leadership and his firm but guiding hand that has created such an outstanding team of professionals. It has been a pleasure working under his leadership and alongside him in our many adventures and projects. Steve has always offered his support and a sincere interest in the gift shop operation and our many volunteer programs. He has set the bar high and he leaves an incredible legacy for others to emulate. Wayne McHatton, Volunteer Services staff I got to know Steve very early in my volunteering. He is one of the nicest people I know. He always welcomes volunteers into the MD Anderson community and makes sure we’re informed about everything at MD Anderson, just like the employees. Joan Cox, volunteer This is how I feel about having worked for Steve for so many years — it’s simple to me. I am just always so proud to answer when people ask me who my vice president is, what division am I in. I am just so proud to say I work for him, so proud! He is the best steward this place ever had, ever will have … the very best. Paula Stewart, Volunteer Services staff
Steve with Health Adventures participants
Steve, Anderson Network volunteer Kenneth Woo, Raymond DuBois, M.D.
Anderson Network volunteer Jim Brown Steve always made time for volunteers and kept us up to date on MD Anderson news. He made us feel like a vital part of the MD Anderson family! Rosemary Herron, volunteer Steve’s leadership and support have been central to the success of the Anderson Network and the Anderson Network Steering Committee. We will miss his friendship and wise counsel. Frank McCreary, volunteer Steve, it has been a real pleasure working with you over the past 16 years of volunteering and working with VEPS. Your personal support and advice has truly been exemplary. I will miss your presence at MD Anderson. Rick Reitz, volunteer I met Steve when I became part of the Anderson Network Steering Committee. He was the first MD Anderson executive with whom I had any contact, and he was the best possible example of calm, effective leadership. His participation and reports at every steering committee meeting made clear the degree to which the institution values and respects volunteers. I was inspired by his enthusiastic devotion to MD Anderson and will always be grateful to have walked for a while on the same path. Sara McIntosh, volunteer I have had the unique opportunity to interact with Steve as a volunteer and as an employee during my 27 years at MD Anderson. During the first 10 years as a volunteer, I tried many different positions as well as being involved in VEPs and volunteer special events. Steve was always there to support our efforts and, more remarkable, he remembered very specific details about previous conversations and interactions that made you feel your efforts and comments were important. When the time came, Steve supported my employment as the gift shop manager and he has continued to be supportive of the Volunteer Gift Shops/Appearances operations and staff. It has always been a pleasure as a volunteer and an employee to be on Steve’s team. Sandy Gomel, Volunteer Services staff
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Volunteer Services Annual Report 2012
FY12 Quick Facts
VEPS (Volunteer Endowment for Patient Support) meeting the social, educational and comfort needs of patients and caregivers
Volunteer Commitment of Service • 192,152 volunteer hours
• $2,745,898 endowment corpus • $207,701 VEPS funds disbursed to programs • 30 programs funded
• 1,248 volunteers • 92 FTE equivalents • $4,186,992 independent sector value of volunteer contribution
Beauty/Barber Shop • 6,226 patients served in shop • 6,726 hats, scarves and wigs distributed
Anderson Network • 117,934 Hospitality Center visitors • 1,315 patient/caregiver support matches • 772 PIKNIC educational forum attendees • 1,999 active patient/caregiver members
Patient/Family Library • 63,097 books circulated
Patient/Family Center and Cyber Center • 50,095 patients/caregivers served
Volunteer Service to Patients and Caregivers
Patient Services Programs Beauty/Barber Shop Cyber Center Integrative Medicine Center - Mays Patient/Family Center Spiritual Care Inpatient Visits/Support Bilingual Floor Hosts Floor Hosts Patient Advocates Patient Information Concierge Desk Information Desks Patient Education Learning Centers
Surgery/Caregiver Support Intensive Care Unit Outpatient Surgery Surgery Waiting
Patient Services Programs Inpatient Visits/Support
Clinic and Center Programs ATC/Transfusion Breast Center Diagnostic Imaging Emergency Center GI Oncology Pediatric Programs Radiation Oncology Patient Navigator Program Regional Care Centers Thoracic Center
Clinic and Center Programs
Patient Information
Surgery/ Caregiver Support
Representative programs of more than 600,000 volunteer contacts in FY12
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4,000,000
Gift Shops and Appearances
3,500,000
3,000,000
$2.905
$2.995
$3.169
$3.341
$3.561
2,500,000
2,000,000
Volunteer Services Gift Shops Four gift shops produced $3,561,812 in revenue, serving1,500,000 337,869 customers. Proceeds provided funding for patient 1,000,000 programs, volunteer support and 20 teen volunteer college scholarships. 500,000 Total gift shop gross revenue (in millions)
Appearances—a specialty shop for cancer patients Appearances served the needs of breast cancer patients through 1,420 post-breast surgery/mastectomy fittings. Staffed by certified mastectomy fitters and volunteers, Appearances is a unique specialty shop for patients. The shop generated $227,609 in retail sales and $345,404 in patient billable transactions for a total of $573,013, a 10% increase over FY11.
FY12 Annual Report Highlights • Anderson Network Survivorship Conference | The 23rd annual survivorship conference with 594 participants was generously underwritten by BlueBell Creameries, Polo on the Prairie, Riders for the Cure and individual donors. The conference showcased cancer experts and survivor stories and provided education, support and encouragement to patients and caregivers.
sales were $208,388, a 20% increase from FY11. • Survivorship Week | Funded by a $20,000 grant from the Volunteer Endowment for Patient Support (VEPS), survivors were celebrated with a week of activities including educational and hands-on activities. The week kicked off with the Riders for the Cure Ride for Life event and concluded with the Anderson Network’s Cancer180 Symposium for young adult survivors.
• Anderson Network patient and caregiver matching programs | The Network celebrated 25 years • Holiday events for patients and caregivers – and over 25,000 patient and caregiver telephone and funded by VEPS and Gift Shop proceeds | During in-person matches. More than 1,800 Anderson Network the holidays, day and evening volunteers shared seasonal survivor and caregiver volunteers were matched to patients and caregivers with similar diagnoses, treatments treats with more than 3,000 patients and caregivers in clinic waiting areas. On Christmas Day, volunteers hosted and experiences. the annual Holiday Luncheon for adult and pediatric inpatients and their families, and visited inpatient rooms • Cancer180—because when cancer strikes, life to share holiday cheer. Inpatient floors and clinics were does a 180 | For this support program for young adults with cancer, Anderson Network staff created a Cancer180 provided trees to decorate and community musicians performed during the season. poster and made a podium presentation at the February American Psychosocial Oncology Society Conference. • Volunteer Recruitment | A new web-based A poster presentation was also made at the November application was developed to streamline the volunteer Livestrong Young Adult Alliance. recruitment process. An important feature is a new online volunteer interest questionnaire, which asks volunteer • Volunteer Services/Children’s Art Project (CAP) candidates to provide basic information to recruitment Task Force | Volunteers worked 1,491 hours and sold CAP products in the Clark Clinic and Mays lobbies. Total staff. It also includes a self-assessment document.
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Teen volunteers get a boost for college Once again, a selected group of teen volunteers are getting a little boost toward their college educations. In 2012, 20 outstanding teens were awarded $3,000 scholarships, generously provided through gift shop proceeds, to attend the college of their choice. Teens receiving scholarships for the 2012-2013 school year include: LaTrevia Burch Volunteer Staff Support Houston Baptist University Bibi Carbajal Appearances Houston Community College Denise Castillo Alkek Gift Shop Sam Houston State University Kevin Dang Cyber Center The University of Texas – Dallas Sophia Dao Volunteer Staff Support Stanford University Connie Feng Coffee Cart Rice University Anna Guo Cyber Center Trinity University Michelle Lee Volunteer Staff Support; Entertainment Rice University Sharmistha Maity Volunteer Staff Support The University of Texas – Austin Baothu Nguyen Cyber Center The University of Houston Sarah Nguyen Clinic Aide/Hematology; Spiritual Care Support Texas A&M University Aashini Patel Appearances The University of Houston Vinita Popat Patient/Family Library Aide Cornell University Eliza Posada Volunteer Staff Support The University of Houston – Honors Arjun Rao Patient /Family Library Aide The University of Texas – Austin Heidi Reinhardt Coffee Cart St. Thomas University Lindsay Ricker WAGS/Rehabilitation Services Southern Methodist University Ye-Jin Song Clark Clinic Gift Shop; Beauty/Barber Shop Stony Brook University Yanyang Wang Alkek Gift Shop Washington University Ying Zong Volunteer Services Gift Shops University of Southern California
Members of Charmingly Pink provide important support to breast cancer patients and survivors. The group generously donated 100 new wigs, which will be made available to patients through the Beauty/Barber Shop. Pictured from left to right: Sheretta West, founder and executive director of Charmingly Pink; Shay Hopper, owner, Shaylons Urban Retreat; Philicia Smith executive assistant to Sheretta West; Melba Patterson, Charmingly Pink co-chair; Susan French, executive director, Volunteer Services at MD Anderson; and Audrey Cosby, Charmingly Pink co-chair. page 6
Tomorrow’s volunteers College students wear the blue jacket, too
Take a look around at those wearing a volunteer blue jacket when you’re walking the MD Anderson hallways. It’s obvious that young people are getting the message about giving back to others. Recently, a college student volunteer program has grown from the active teen volunteer program, and there are almost 100 active day, evening and weekend collegelevel volunteers throughout the cancer center. “This program requires a short-term volunteer position, and the number of these available varies,” says Mary Jackson, Volunteer Services program manager. “The amount of training required differs as well.” Participants in the college student program could easily be placed in positions such as coffee cart or hat cart volunteers, clinic assistants and gift shop volunteers. These positions are ideal since volunteer positions for college students often follow a semester–based schedule. However, Jackson cites volunteer positions such as floor hosts and the surgery waiting area, which require a great deal of training, as ones that would not be appropriate for those in the college student volunteer program. Denesha Williams not only attends school at MD Anderson to study molecular genetics, she volunteers, too. In her search for meaningful volunteer work, she investigated hospitals in the Texas Medical Center and was especially interested in MD Anderson. The Volunteer Services website gave her the information she needed and she followed the process to become a volunteer. Beginning in February 2011, Denesha volunteered as a clinic aide, visiting patients receiving chemotherapy and providing them with resources and small amenities. She has changed positions and now works in the surgery waiting area giving updates to families from the surgeons and from the recovery room. “I love it,” she says. “I hate to miss my volunteer day and I do everything I can to be there. I’ve met so many people doing this and I’ve grown a lot from this experience.”
“Denesha is a wonderful example of our college student volunteer program,” says Jackson. “We can count on her to be there for her volunteer shift. “Because school traditionally halts during the summer, there are many out-of-state and in-state applicants for that time period,” Jackson says. “January or February is when these students should contact us. Often, they can attend the required volunteer orientation during the spring.” For any college students able to work on a semesterbased schedule, Jackson recommends they also contact Volunteer Services several months before the desired semester. The timeline for this year can be found on the it’s website, www.mdanderson.org/volunteers. Interested students follow a similar procedure to those applying to the standard volunteer program. The first step is to complete the volunteer interest form found online at www.mdanderson.org/volunteerinterest. You will be contacted by a Volunteer Services’ staff member if there is an opening that matches your interests, skill and availability. From that point, you will be asked to attend a volunteer interview, complete an application and schedule a placement interview. Other than the experience and knowledge gained from the volunteer assignment itself, other benefits include a letter of recommendation after completing 60 hours, free parking while volunteering and the gain of valuable skills. For more information or questions, contact Volunteer Services at volunteering@mdanderson.org or call 713-792-5646.
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Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PA I D Houston, Texas Permit No. 7052
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Volunteer Services Unit 115/163100/30/102284/55028/41 1515 Holcombe Houston Texas 77030-3800
Volunteer Continuing Education Events
Winter 2013
Ongoing Opportunities MD Anderson’s Approach to National Drug Shortages Wednesday, Feb. 13, 10-11:30 a.m., Duncan Building, Floor 8, Conference Room 8 Emotional Patients and Families Interactive Workshop Friday, March 1, 8:30-11:30 a.m. Limited attendance of 15 volunteers for this workshop; advance registration required by calling 713-792-7180 or emailing mdonnelly@mdanderson.org. Finding Free and Reliable Health Care Information with a tour of The Learning Center Wednesday, March 6, 6-8 p.m., The Learning Center Classroom, Main Building, Floor 4
PIKNIC PIKNIC (Partners in Knowledge, News In Cancer) ― an educational forum to learn about issues, needs and concerns relevant to the cancer experience. Typically held at the Integrative Medicine Center, Mays Clinic, ACB2.1041. First and third Tuesdays and third Thursday of the month, noon-1 p.m.; call 713792-2553 for topic schedule. Check regional care center schedules for these presentations. The Patient Connection Workshop Tuesday, Feb. 5, 6-8:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 19, 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. All workshops will be conducted at Main Building, Floor 11
What’s New Walking Tour Monday, Jan. 28, 10 a.m.-noon Tuesday, Feb. 12, noon-2 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, 6-7:30 p.m. Reserve your place by emailing volunteering@mdanderson.org or calling 713-792-7180. I*CARE (Interpersonal Communication and Relationship Enhancement) Video Series Receive continuing education credit by viewing a series of videos developed for MD Anderson patients and families as part of the I*CARE program. The videos may be viewed on your own computer. To register and for more information contact Mary Donnelly Jackson, 713792-3792, mdonnelly@mdanderson.org. Contact Volunteer Services, 713-7927180 or volunteering@mdanderson. org to make a reservation. Attending any of these events meets your annual continuing education requirement.