LEXINGTON, Ky. — Bluegrass Care Navigators honored its approximately 300 volunteers this month during National Volunteer Week 2021. These dedicated volunteers play a vital role as members of the hospice care team in 32 counties across Central, Eastern and Northern Kentucky.
Volunteers for the organization support patient needs or assist with office-based activities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, volunteers have been supporting families through the Compassion From A Distance program. This program allows volunteers to complete a variety of socially distanced or virtual activities, such as delivering necessities and gifts to families, making weekly care phone calls, and providing companionship through phone or virtual visits.
“Volunteers play an indispensable role in enabling Bluegrass Care Navigators to offer the best care possible for our patients, their families and caregivers. By sharing their time, energy and expertise, our volunteers bring compassion and caring to the lives of those in need,” said Liz Fowler, President and CEO.
During this National Volunteer Week, Bluegrass Care Navigators announced its first annual Volunteer President’s Award nominees. This award recognizes the efforts of all those who work so hard to support patients and families in their communities. The Lexington office had four volunteers nominated for this award.
Linda Boots will celebrate five years of volunteer service with BCN in May. Over the years, she has given hundreds of hours of service. Boots loves and excels at administrative tasks. During COVID-19, she has continued to take on huge workloads, including working on mailing projects at home. When an urgent need arose at the office, Boots came to the rescue, all while staying socially distanced. Day in and day out, she saw the project all the way through.
Kate Fresca began volunteering at BCN in 1999. She brings her special brand of warmth, compassion, experience and humor to all she does. Fresca passionately serves in many facets of the volunteer program including Care Calls, the 11th Hour Program and as a host at the Hospice Care Center at Saint Joseph Hospital. During the pandemic, she has embraced the Compassion From A Distance Program. Although she is yearning to be back face-to-face, she continues to serve by making care calls from home and porch deliveries.
In her six years with BCN, Margot Strother has shared her time and talents with patients and families in various ways. Before the pandemic, Strother visited with patients in local nursing homes. She now provides comfort and support during weekly care calls and bereavement calls. And as a part of the Compassion From A Distance Program, Strother assisted with many porch deliveries. This included delivering fun activities for BCN’s first virtual Camp Hope, a camp for bereaved children.
When the pandemic began last year, Joan Webb worked tirelessly to find fabric and elastic despite national shortages and store closings. She cut face mask patterns and elastic for hours so other seamstresses across the state could complete face masks easily. A creative person, Webb creates beautiful cards for patient birthdays, Veterans Day, Christmas, and many more holidays! She has been a constant source of support and strength to BCN’s Volunteer Services Department.
We appreciate the contributions of all our volunteers during this National Volunteer Week.
As Bluegrass Care Navigators continues to serve more patients throughout Kentucky, it needs more volunteers. For information call (855) 492-0812 or visit bgcarenav.org/volunteer.
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