Here are the finalists in the 2014 Health Care Heroes Volunteer category.

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

Terry Hickey

TITLE: Volunteer nurse

ORGANIZATION: Cape Fear Clinic

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Terry Hickey, RN, BSN is a retired Operating Room (OR) nurse who has been working at Cape Fear Clinic for many years.

She received her Bachelor's Degree in Nursing from UNCW and has lived in the Wilmington area since 1987. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of Perioperative Nurses (AORN) and as an Associate Regional Director of the North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA).

Mrs. Hickey is also active in her living community where she is currently serving on the Communications Committee and the Social Committee.

As if this impressive career is not enough, Terry averages almost 200 hours per year as a volunteer with Cape Fear Clinic, and has provided more than 900 hours just since 2010; she has been volunteering for the clinic since before her retirement. She is a dedicated volunteer and an active member of the Wilmington community.”
 

Mike Holt

TITLE: Resident

ORGANIZATION: The Davis Community

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “You would expect a 97-year old to stop and let others wait on her but that would be contrary to the very being of Miriam ‘Mike’ Holt.

I first met Mike in her early 90s when she served on The Davis Community Auxiliary and spent countless hours volunteering as a ‘friendly visitor’ and as a featured dancer in the Plantation Village dance team.

A few years later she told her doctor that she was ready to move to Davis Health Care, bypassing Assisted Living altogether, but this is how Mike thinks.

We think that it was her spirit that needed care, not just her body. She immediately looked for ways to give back. One of her primary volunteer activities is as the shopkeeper for the campus Gift Shop. She opens the Gift Shop each morning and waits on customers, selling candies and small gifts but in reality she is giving more of herself in the role by providing friendly greetings and a kind word to passersby.

Mike doesn't just observe. She acts. When she sees a campus need she donates funds to meet that need and for the past four years has honored the staff by donating to the Employee Council, a fund that addresses employee needs and celebrations.

Volunteerism may be done throughout life but it is a rare person who enters her tenth decade with such determination to give back.”
 

Ken White

TITLE: Surgeon

ORGANIZATION: Wilmington Plastic Surgery

WHAT THE NOMINATOR SAID: “Because of his contributions to education of residents and medical students, Dr. White has been appointed as an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He is also a previous recipient of the Albert Schweitzer Honor Scholar Award from the University of North Carolina in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Other recognitions include the Encore Reader's Choice Award for best plastic surgeon in the Wilmington area, and the Silent Angel Award from the American Cancer Society.

You will not find a more generous and giving health care provider.

He has done countless mission trips throughout the world. Dr. White serves the community through board membership on several area charities, and the world through annual trips to third world countries. On these projects he uses his expertise to change people’s lives by
performing reconstructive surgery to correct cleft palates and other disfiguring conditions.

Dr. White brings comfort and confidence to people who would ordinarily not have access to or be able to afford such procedures have access to or be able to afford such procedures.”