Special to 1812Blockhouse
If you’ve visited the OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital Gift Shop, you may have been greeted by Dorothy Mentzer.
Whether she’s wrapping packages, putting merchandise away, or getting change, Mentzer has been lending a helping hand at the hospital for more than 40 years. In fact, she’s coming up on her 45th anniversary volunteering with the hospital. That’s more than 14,000 hours.
If you ask Mentzer, she’ll say it’s simply become habit to show up to volunteer. But along the way, she’s touched a lot of hearts. Some, who needed it the most.
“Sometimes there would be a patient’s family or spouse that would come into the gift shop,” said Mentzer. “And just under a lot of stress. Sometimes they wanted to talk, sometimes they didn’t. But if they did want to talk, sometimes it was a privilege to be able to talk to them and hopefully get them to a point where they felt a little bit more positive about the situation.”
While Dorothy’s time and compassion is a gift to others, she says she has received just as much.
“I feel that it’s done a lot for me,” said Mentzer. “Hopefully, it has done a lot for somebody else. But its been a good thing for me to keep active and do these things.”
At 89-years-young, Mentzer has no plans on stopping her volunteer work. However, she has advice for those thinking about joining her.
“You will get more out of it than you give,” said Mentzer. “It’s well worth your time and your effort.”
If you’d like to volunteer at Mansfield Hospital, click here.
Source: OhioHealth; Image by Tumisu from PixabayImage by Tumisu from Pixabay
