Transforming Cancer Care: GBMC Volunteer Auxiliary Gift Supports Renovations to Radiation Oncology

GBMC volunteers make everything better. They lift spirits and provide guidance when patients and visitors ask for directions. They take on administrative work, freeing staff to focus on patient care. Through their retail operations: the Corner Shop, Nearly New, Nearly New, Too, and the Marion G. Thompson Boutique, volunteers raise funds that return to GBMC HealthCare in the form of gifts, funding initiatives that propel our mission forward. 

Most recently, the Volunteer Auxiliary Board approved a $500,000 gift to support the renovation of the Sheila K. Riggs Radiation Oncology Center at the Sandra & Malcolm Berman Cancer Institute. The renovation will complete the work of bringing the Berman Cancer Institute’s facilities in line with the patient-centered, multidisciplinary approach to care for which it is so highly regarded. 

At the invitation of Volunteer Services Director Carmen Baeza, Radiation Oncology Chair Dr. Geoffrey A. Neuner described the need for renovation and shared plans for the updated center. Board members were enthusiastic about the improvements. Carmen’s planful management of Volunteer Services frees the board to focus on finding new ways to help GBMC and its community. Volunteer Auxiliary Board President Don Scott and Vice President Benita “Bonnie” Kaplan take pride in all they and their fellow volunteers achieve together. 

Volunteers made the first lead gift, a pledge of $3 million, to The Promise Project, which created the new inpatient facility, the Louis & Phyllis Friedman Building. It’s a point of pride for both, as it is for Bonnie’s husband, Ken, who served on the Volunteer Auxiliary Board at the time. Like their fellow volunteers, Don and Bonnie each have their own reason for getting involved at GBMC. 

A 40-year veteran of TV news at Baltimore’s WJZ, Don had been impressed with the openness of GBMC’s communications staff. When his longtime colleague and friend Stu Kerr became a patient here, Don felt his friend was “treated royally.” Yet when a year after retiring from his morning news anchor post he joined GBMC as a volunteer, he remained a little skeptical. 

“The first time I saw the vision statement on the wall, I thought, ‘Yeah, right!’” he recalls. “But I quickly learned that patients really do get treated like family. The model proved true.” 

Bonnie experienced that treatment firsthand when she was diagnosed with breast cancer 10 years ago. 

“Everyone was wonderful,” she beams. “I wanted to pay back the kindness I received. Being retired, I had time, and I thought, ‘I could give that!’” 

Taking the step beyond their volunteer positions to leading the Volunteer Auxiliary Board (Bonnie will succeed Don as president in July), has given deeper insights into the inner workings of GBMC. For example, the board president becomes an ex-officio member of the Philanthropy Committee of the GBMC HealthCare Board, where members receive updates from GBMC President and CEO John B. Chessare, MD, MPH, and leaders from across the hospital, GBMC Health Partners, and Gilchrist. Not normally a fan of meetings, Don appreciated the chance to increase his understanding of the challenges facing GBMC and its success in meeting them. 

Their varied forms of service considered, both Don and Bonnie value their time with individual patients, visitors, and staff – and their fellow volunteers – most of all. Asked to name the best part of the experience, Don spoke about the ways volunteers help each other. 

“We get to know each other and want to be supportive,” he explains. “You develop relationships and find ways to help one another.” 

Bonnie agrees. “When I talk with a volunteer who has a new cancer diagnosis, I can share my experiences,” she says. “We talk to one another and give people hope.” 

Because their work is integral to meeting GBMC’s vision of providing “every patient, every time, the care we would want for our own loved ones,” volunteers are asked to commit to extensive training and, in most cases, regular schedules. Anyone interested in learning more about volunteering at GBMC should visit GBMC.org/Volunteers.