Memorial Hermann Volunteers Give “Heart & Soul”

Ask anyone at Memorial Hermann Hospital and Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital about their volunteers, and you’re likely to get an earful about the vital roles they play. From comforting families in crisis to soothing crying infants, Memorial Hermann’s volunteers work thousands of hours and are the heart and soul of these hospitals. Here are the stories of two such volunteers.

Wanted: Your Toughest Challenge

Businesswoman Linda Pry loves a good challenge. As the owner of an independent insurance agency, she’s no stranger to tough situations. But her role as a Memorial Hermann Hospital volunteer is special.

“I love being part of making the impossible possible,” she says.

In the four years she’s served at the hospital, she’s done just that.

From her original assignment as a volunteer in major trauma and shock trauma to her current role on the board of directors for the Memorial Hermann Hospital Volunteers’ Organization, she’s seen it all.

“Linda is a unique and valuable combination of business skills, people skills and spirituality wrapped into one package,” says Marsha Weiss, director of Volunteer Services for Memorial Hermann and Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospitals. “She’s able to take the ball and run with it.”

Weiss cites Pry’s creation, implementation, coordination and supervision of the cardiovascular/cardiology volunteer service as one example of her ability to lead. The new service brought much-needed volunteers to these critical care units and is the first faith-based community partnership for Memorial Hermann Hospital, which worked with Lakewood Church to make the project happen.

A Gentle Hand

When Florence Schwartz first began volunteering at Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital, she remembers how afraid she was to touch the tiny infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Five years later, she’s the regular volunteer the nurses depend on.

“Florence is the voice of experience, the steady hand, the reassuring presence for the caregivers,” says Weiss. “She just knows where to go.”

The retired social worker and widowed mother of three came to Houston from Long Island, N.Y. in 1998 to be closer to her youngest daughter. For the first time in her life, she had time on her hands, and she wanted to be a part of something meaningful.

“I wanted to do something special for the community,” Schwartz says.

Schwartz spends most of her time at the hospital simply comforting the babies who need it most. She credits the nurses at the hospital for their outstanding care, but it’s the volunteers who have the time to sit for hours on end soothing a frightened baby.

“I love just holding and comforting the babies,” she says. “And most of the time I’m successful.”

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