Here are the finalists in the 2015 Health Care Heroes Volunteer category.

Honors a volunteer at a health care provider or other health-related organization who is considered exemplary by people within those organizations.

Herb Gant

TITLE: Volunteer

ORGANIZATION: New Hanover Regional Medical Center

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Herb Gant volunteers in multiple departments at New Hanover Regional Medical Center and is a positive influence in each one.

As president of NHRMC Auxiliary Inc. Herb was an outstanding leader of this important board. It was during his tenure as president that the Auxiliary applied for and received a $2 million challenge grant from the State  Employees Credit Union to build the new SECU Family House at NHRMC. Herb has donated more than 7,000 hours to NHRMC since 2007.

Herb came to us from New Orleans two years after Katrina, where he had been a volunteer in a hospital to which he had donated 2,000 hours. He told me that he returned to his former hospital just days after the storm, manning the information desk when the hospital was 90 percent closed. One day the CEO came by to thank Herb for being there. Herb voiced his concern that maybe he was not needed, since they had so few patients and staff. The CEO said, ‘Herb we need you now more than ever. Seeing a volunteer at this desk is as close to normal as we come these days. The staff all agree having you here makes them feel maybe things will be okay.’”

-Eileen McConville, NHRMC volunteer services director
 

Tammy Scott

TITLE: LFANC support group facilitator

ORGANIZATION: Lupus Foundation of America, N.C. chapter

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Tammy Scott’s dedication and passion for the lupus community is demonstrated by more than a decade of  intense volunteer service. She initially became involved with the Lupus Foundation of America North Carolina  Chapter (LFANC) because of her own lupus diagnosis and the desire to connect others in her community with the support and educational resources they desperately needed.

At that time (2004), the closest support group to her area was over two hours away so she immediately went to work to launch a new support group in her community. She was eventually invited to attend the LFANC Support Group Facilitator Training that enabled her to launch a new lupus support group in Wilmington, N.C.

Since its inception, Tammy has been tirelessly devoted to helping the membership every way she possibly can while continuing to help the group grow and touch more lives.

This January the group will celebrate its sixth anniversary.

She has an incredible talent for connecting and caring with each lupus patient she meets.”

-Christine John-Fuller, Lupus Foundation of America, NC Chapter president and CEO

 

Donald Thompson

TITLE: Volunteer

ORGANIZATION: Cape Fear Clinic

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Vice Admiral D. C. ‘Deese’ Thompson … averages over 150 hours per year as a volunteer with Cape Fear Clinic, and he has been volunteering for the clinic since its inception.

Currently, Deese spends a majority of his volunteer service hours in the pharmacy department and is always up for any task. He assists in preparing prescriptions for clinic patients, sorts and files clinic paperwork, and submits prescription assistance program applications to drug manufacturers, among other pharmacy-specific duties. When he is not assisting in the pharmacy, he can often be found assisting in other departments, picking up the grounds, and even cleaning and taking out the trash.

He also served on the clinic’s Board of Directors as both a member and as President.

He is always the first to welcome a patient entering the pharmacy and the first to introduce himself to a new student or volunteer. Admiral Thompson is a true team player and has been instrumental in the success of Cape Fear Clinic.

It is truly my honor and my pleasure to call him my colleague.”

-Jennifer Buxton, Cape Fear Clinic director of pharmacy