Hospital volunteer, 97, hits 20,000 hours

BY CHRISTY STEADMAN CSTEADMAN@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Polly Coleman donned a huge smile as she walked into Saint Joseph Hospital to begin her volunteer shift.

Coleman celebrated her 97th birthday the day before. But as she entered the hospital on June 20, about 30 sta and volunteers gathered to celebrate her for a di erent milestone — Coleman had completed 20,000 hours of volunteer work at the hospital over the course of 32 years.

“Volunteers are a big part of what we do here at the hospital,” said Yusuf Hassan, director of volunteers and guest services for the hospital. “She believes in our mission (and) she loves giving back.”

Coleman, of Broom eld, started volunteering at the hospital in Denver’s City Park West neighborhood because she knew she wanted to stay active and involved after retirement. Also, her dad had a friend that was chief of surgery at the time.

So, she began in 1991. Since then, Coleman has volunteered in the surgery waiting room, as a board member, as an event co-chair, as a mentor and trainer, and much more.

Hassan recalled that Coleman loves serving at the hospital so much that during the COVID-19 shutdowns — when nobody but patients and sta were allowed in hospitals — Coleman was one who called every day asking when she’d be able to come back.

Currently, Coleman spends two days a week in the hospital’s gift shop.

“It’s because of love,” Coleman said. “I love what I do.”

Supporting Saint Joseph Hospital has become somewhat of a tradition for Coleman’s family, as there are three generations who dedicate time. Coleman’s granddaughter, Sarah Owen, started volunteering at the hospital when she was 12, simply to be able to hang out with her grandmother. Today, Owen serves as the hospital’s director of service excellence.

“She’s always had a heart for giving,” Owen said of her grandmother. “Hospitals can be stressful, (but) she’s like a little ray of sunshine.”

Coleman’s daughter, Dianne Montanari, has been volunteering at the hospital for about ve years. Her service began after she retired from a career as a sixth-grade aide with the Je erson County School District.

“You get more from life if you give back,” Montanari said.

Coleman has an active life, Owen said. She is part of a bridge club, she’s involved with a variety of committees, church and a close-knit family.

“But the two days a week she comes to the hospital gives her an additional sense of purpose,” Owen said. “She’s there (in the gift shop) with a smile, getting to know everyone.” e hospital hosts a variety of volunteers — people who dedicate their time to do everything from communion to pet therapy. e hospital has about 162 active volunteers who, combined, provide an average of 1,500 hours per month. is equals the work of nine-and-a-half full-time employees and pay value equivalent to $50,000, Hassan said. e gift shop is run completely by volunteers, and since 2012, it has invested $1.33 million into the hospital, Hassan said. e volunteers are “extremely valuable,” Hassan said. “And not only the dollar value. Just their presence alone makes such a di erence.”

He added that while Coleman’s 32 years is the longest out of all the volunteers, there are about 10 who have been volunteering at Saint Joseph Hospital for more than 20 years, and several more who have been volunteering at the hospital for more than 10 years. Nine volunteers are former employees.

As I’ve aged, I’ve wryly commented on, as you might have about your own, my diminishing physical capabilities, plaintively decrying I can’t do such and such — running, skiing, climbing —l ike I used to. And like you might’ve, I’ve occasionally spouted George Bernard Shaw’s lament that youth is wasted on the young.

Our bodies usually peak in our mid to late twenties. By our early thirties, muscle starts to weaken, and the hard work of staying t becomes increasingly challenging. And from then on, it’s an exercise to exercise, an inexorable decline with the going getting tougher as our capabilities ebb.

Like every living being, we humans have a shelf life. ough I can’t speak for other sentient beings, I believe that as we mature, like them, we grow wiser. In conjunction with that, our perspective and attitude about our abilities and interests usually grow. For those relishing and thriving on physical activity, dedication to keeping t and maintaining strength deepens. But paradoxically, that mature attitude sets in shortly after our physical growth spurt ends and our bodies begin to decline. en, as we approach forty — the dreaded marker for middle age — fear sets in because we know we’re at the point when unpleasant stu — e.g., bifocals — seriously