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Award: Volunteer
It was in 2007, eight months after he started volunteering, that Doug Richendollar and his family’s life would change forever.
His 26-year-old daughter, Kelly, was killed in a bus accident while on vacation in Belize. At the time, she was working as a registered nurse in the trauma center at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Ironically enough, prior to graduating from nursing school, Kelly had volunteered in the emergency department at Sentara Leigh Hospital, the same place Doug was volunteering. This would prove to be a life-saving connection for him.
“If it hadn’t been for the nurses in the emergency room, I don’t think I would have made it,” said Richendollar, who was thankful many of the staff knew Kelly from when she was a volunteer.
Flash forward 17 years, Richendollar has 10,830 hours volunteering at Sentara Leigh.
He shared his story with Inside Business.
Why do you volunteer? I began volunteering in 2006 as a response to a challenge from my oldest daughter Kelly. She was 25 and full of energy, with a love of adventure and an ability to make anything she did fun. I had recently retired and had come to realize you can only clean and organize your garage so many times. Daily, I watched Kelly make her “lunch” prior to leaving to work her scheduled 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. shift in a Sentara emergency department. Every night between 12:30 a.m. and 2 a.m., Kelly would call asking me to “unlock the front door and turn on the bathroom light.” After her bathroom break, Kelly would sit down, eat the lunch she had made earlier that morning, and share her night with me.
I consistently asked Kelly why she had not been able to take a bathroom break and eat at work. Her answer was always: “Dad you just don’t understand how busy it is.” She was right; I didn’t understand! I worked in law enforcement and I rarely missed a meal and never missed a bathroom break. Kelly eventually challenged me to try it myself. I applied to volunteer at Sentara Leigh Hospital with a focus on the emergency department.
What keeps you motivated? It’s easy to stay motivated in an emergency department because things happen so fast and are time sensitive. I am always trying to save the doctors, nurses and technicians a few steps by bringing a patient back to a room, getting supplies or equipment, providing a warm blanket or providing water if allowed. I help family and visitors find bathrooms, get to the cafeteria, find a quiet space and know where the exit is. I will stand outside of a room where the nurses and doctors are working a “Code” so I can get anything they may urgently need. I have found that participating in the organized chaos is extremely rewarding!
How do you cope with challenges? I believe challenges are just an opportunity to learn more in a different environment. Sometimes, it requires additional training or trying to look at the situation from the patient’s viewpoint. I’ve gained so much medical knowledge that it scares me at times. I definitely know more than I did 53 years ago when I earned my first aid merit badge.
What are you most proud of? I am most proud of being accepted by staff as part of the care team and of the responsibility of providing training to new junior volunteers.
What advice do you have for other potential volunteers? Giving back to our community is a major reason. It gives you an opportunity to help those who have taken care of you or your family and you know at the end of a shift that you have been a part of something great. Think of it as the “leave no trace’’ principle associated with hiking and camping. For me, I am repaying the good karma given to me when I was emotionally in a bad place. Find something you enjoy doing that is rewarding for you. They can be simple things such as reading to patients, helping in our schools, food kitchens, Scouts or at the jail. Many organizations depend on quality volunteers.
