A generous gift of time

Josephine Arellano and Hilde Keneley of Laguna Beach have spent more

than a decade working in full-time, unpaid jobs at South Coast

Medical Center -- and they say they love it.

The women have volunteered a total of 49,000 hours at the

hospital. And they don’t intend to stop there.

After volunteering 26,000 and 23,000 hours, respectively, Arellano

and Keneley are at the top of the list for service hours at the

medical center.

They are part of a volunteer force of 150 men and women who serve

in the hospital’s auxiliary. Every year those who have reached a

certain level of service hours, or those who have reached a five-year

milestone, are recognized.

Arellano will has been with the auxiliary 26 years. Normally, when

asked how she managed to volunteer 26,000 hours, she tells people, “I

push papers and I sell candy.”

Arellano’s family has owned the house she lives in since 1933.

Though she grew up in various places, Arellano has spent the majority

of her life in Laguna Beach.

She does two types of volunteer work: special projects and regular

assignments. Her special projects consist of records and statistics.

She gathers information during such events as the annual flu clinic

at the hospital.

She records statistics such as age, number of heart attacks, blood

pressure and other things associated with patients’ health

conditions.

“I collect and report statistical data,” Arellano said. “I love

paper, and I love numbers.”

She also collects health statistics from within the hospital,

including tracking how many employees exercise and participate in

ongoing education.

In addition, Arellano helps assemble hospital manuals, set up and

maintain department files, and put old files in the hospital

archives. She also helps out in the nursing administration, case

management and human resources departments.

But her favorite place to volunteer is the gift shop.

“I will take care of your sweet tooth, and I will help you find

something special for yourself, or for someone you love, and I will

wrap it in a pretty bag,” she says. “I love the gift shop because I

meet people, and I get to help them.”

On Saturday mornings between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Arellano is in

the gift shop dressed in her scrubs, cheerful and ready to help.

The shop’s proceeds go toward improving the hospital.

Arellano has a lot of experience in volunteering. She started her

charitable career at United Way of Orange County. She also

volunteered at the South County Boys and Girls Club, taught a

citizenship class, and was a volunteer deputy clerk for

naturalization. She then came to the South Coast Medical Center

Auxiliary.

“I enjoy doing these things for the hospital,” she said, “It’s

very close to my heart.”

Keneley also loves her volunteer work at the hospital. While she

has completed a recorded 23,000 hours of service, she was

volunteering at the hospital even before hours began to be recorded

in the early 1980s.

“We worked hard in those days,” Keneley recalls. “We did almost

everything by hand -- the old-fashioned way. We set up new operating

rooms, we did clean up, we helped the nurses, we helped the doctors,

we did everything.”

She did this kind of work five days a week, in 12-hour shifts, and

sometimes she ended up working from 9 a.m. to 2 a.m.

With advances in technology, volunteers were no longer needed to

do this strenuous work. As a result, Keneley decided to explore

working in the recovery room. She has been working there for more

than 10 years.

“If you can do something for someone else, I think that is

wonderful. It all comes back to just the smiles on their faces,” said

Keneley. “I will go down the hall, and somebody will say, ‘Oh I

remember you, you took care of my mother!’ It’s so rewarding, it

really is, and people are always very, very appreciative.”

Keneley now works every Monday in the recovery room and every

Saturday in the intensive care unit as part of the Planetree model of

healthcare.

This model provides services for the patients as well as the

patients’ visitors, to make them feel more comfortable in the

hospital.

“When patients come out of surgery, they feel isolated, and I

start talking to them, and they start loosening up, and I enjoy that

very much,” Keneley said.

“I love people, I love to be around people. Anything I can do to

help, I’d love to do it.”

Keneley was born and raised in Germany, where she lived through

World War II. After the war, she joined the Red Cross as an

interpreter because she could speak English, French and German.

At the age of 23, with the assistance of the man she worked for as

an interpreter, she came to the U.S. and to Laguna Beach. She worked

at what used to be the Village Pharmacy on Coast Highway in South

Laguna, a few blocks from the hospital.

When she retired, she wanted to give back to the community, and

she has been volunteering ever since.

Other Lagunans have also spent many hours volunteering.

Twelve were honored for hours of service ranging from 52 to 5,000

hours.

Lilian Kaufman was recognized for serving 5,000 hours; Erna

Juptner and Dutch Vanderhoof for 4,000 hours; Jack Bradford for 3,000

hours; Shirley McDonald and Sibyl Wilson for 2,000 hours; and Mary

Ann McGill, Joe McGreevy, Violette McKevitt, and Franya Tierney for

1,000 hours.

Hans Scharer has served 500 hours, and Leigh Ann Merryman 52

hours.