29,000 hours — and still counting

By Cynthia Daniels

For Pulse

Twenty-nine thousand hours is a long time to do anything.

But not when you're 82-year-old Lois Kirk.

For Kirk, 29,000 hours is the amount of time she's volunteered at Northside Hospital in Atlanta. Yes, she holds the record.

"Every time the hours are posted, someone looks up there and says, 'Oh my goodness,' " said Jean Durden, a founding member of the hospital's auxiliary. "She's put in her dues at Northside. She's been faithful and very happy where she is.

For almost 37 years, Kirk has stuffed envelopes, filed papers and answered phones, all without pay — unless you include free lunches and the commemorative pins given to volunteers.

"Pay doesn't mean everything," Kirk said. "It's rewarding, and I enjoy it, and I think if you enjoy it, you don't need to be paid."

Each morning at 5, Kirk wakes up and prepares to leave her Sandy Springs home. She arrives at Northside by 7 a.m. — driving only on surface roads to avoid the interstate.

She wears her blue volunteer smock and flowers in her hair.

"When I was 6 years old, my mother put a flower in my hair," she says, recalling that fresh yellow tulip. "And I've been wearing [a flower] ever since. That is my trademark."

On Mondays, Kirk shares a small office inside the employee health department.

First she compiles a report of daily visits. At 8:30 a.m., she wanders down to the cafeteria for a cup of coffee — regular. Then, it's back to work.

Carefully, Kirk folds paper reminders for employee blood tests and stuffs them into envelopes. Neatly, she addresses each envelope and licks it closed.

Her gold bracelet, adorned with the volunteer pins she's earned, chimes against the envelopes as she writes. Her husband of 51 years, Harry, made that bracelet for her.

As nurses float in and out, Kirk asks them about their children, their grandchildren, their weekends.

The nine nurses say that for every occasion, from birthdays to Passover, Kirk sends a card, and during Nurses Week, she gives gifts. Last year it was crystal soap dishes.

On Tuesdays, Kirk works in the Auxiliary Office, creating mailings, greeting other volunteers and answering phones.

"I often ask people who come to volunteer here why they chose Northside," said Marianne Askew, director of volunteer services. "They will often tell me it's because of the person I talked to on the phone, they were so nice and enthusiastic. . . Lois is one of the people responsible for portraying that image."

Back in 1970, Kirk's husband, a structural engineer with Lockheed Martin Corp., traveled regularly, leaving her home alone.

The solution, Harry said, was to find "something to do to take up [Lois'] time and to be worthwhile and meaningful in the community."

So Lois joined the Pink Ladies, the Northside Hospital Auxiliary, and became one of the first 100 volunteers to enter the hospital on July 2, 1970, just two weeks after its opening.

Kirk started volunteering in radiology, where she filed paperwork and organized lab results. Then she moved to the nursery, which didn't work out too well.

"Not having any children, I didn't know if the baby was choking or not choking," Kirk said. "I thought, 'This is not for me, forget it.' "

The auxiliary president suggested that Kirk try working in a brand-new department: employee health. Kirk, a former accountant, jumped at the chance to once again do some office work.

"Lois is our star here," said Debbie Glazer, employee health services coordinator. "It wouldn't be the same without her."

The hospital has changed a lot in almost four decades, but folks say Kirk is an institution.

When asked if she planned to retire soon, she answered with a soft "No."

"Debbie said, 'Lois, work as long as you want to,' " she said. "That's what I'm doing."

— This article is a reprint from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.