Meet Cathy and Gordon Harper, two valuable volunteers with Campbell County
Health in Gillette, Wyoming!
Gordon and Cathy Harper shared in their ministry for many years at The
Vineyard in Gillette, and neither one was ready to stop helping others
when they retired.
Cathy had been a Gift Shoppe volunteer and helped with the
Festival of Trees for several years before medical issues forced her to take a break. Now
she volunteers at least weekly at the
Campbell County Memorial Hospital Information Desk, doing what she loves best—being around people
and helping them find their way.
Sometimes people just want some reassurance that they’re headed in
the right direction to their hospital destination, but other times they
really need her help. Cathy remembers helping a man who walked his bicycle
to the hospital and found out he really needed to go to the
Stocktrail Building for
physical therapy. She knew he wouldn’t be able to get there without help, so she
enlisted Security to help out and transport him there. Cathy has given
600 hours to date, and doesn’t have any plans to stop coming to CCH.
Gordon began the volunteer
chaplain program with Pastor
Bob Rudichar in 1994, coordinating volunteer clergy to round on patients and be on
call for emergencies. When he spends time with families in an emergency
or at the end of life Gordon calls the experience the “power of
presence,” because the simple act of being there can change the
tone and atmosphere of the situation. Not only is it important to spend
time with patients and families, but nurses and doctors are affected, too.
Gordon says it can be very hard for physicians to tell family members that
their loved one has died. In his almost 25 years of hospital chaplaincy,
Gordon has volunteered 7,000 hours to help people at the most difficult
time in their lives.
Like Cathy, he plans to continue volunteering as long as he’s able,
saying that he is humbled that he’s been allowed to do this work.
Gordon also volunteers for the Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM)
program, and CCH HEART team, Campbell County
Sheriff’s Office,
Moorcroft Fire Department and helped start a chaplaincy program for the
Wyoming Highway Patrol nearly two years ago. Fellow Pastors in town jokingly call him the “chaplain
of everything.”
Cathy and Gordon embody the spirit of volunteerism—giving their time
for the opportunity to help others. Thank you, Cathy and Gordon, for everything
you do for our patients.
If you're interested in learning more about
volunteering with CCH, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Chris Buxton at 307.688.1536 or visit
www.cchwyo.org/volunteer.