NMC has a team of 75 volunteers who help the organization be a welcoming place that is easy to navigate. Volunteers at NMC serve as greeters at information desks, couriers, help in the Gift Gallery and Courtyard Café, and much more. The volunteers have interesting backgrounds and interests – here’s one example.

 

Bob Bessette

Volunteer in NMC’s Main Hospital Lobby for 2 years.

 

Tell us about your career path over the years.

Hired as Medical Laboratory Technician at St. Albans Hospital on January 26, 1978. Became part of the “new” NMC combined Laboratory in April 1978. Certified as a Medical Laboratory Technologist and spent 44 years minus 26 days in the Laboratory as a bench tech, Blood Bank Supervisor, QC/QA Technologist and Laboratory Manager. Retired December 31, 2021.

What do you enjoy about volunteering at NMC?

I thoroughly enjoy doing whatever I am asked to do as a volunteer on my Tuesday afternoon shift. In my current role I most enjoy interacting with our patients, visitors, fellow volunteers and NMC employees – many of whom I worked alongside for many years.

What hobbies do you have or what kinds of things do you do in your free time?

I enjoy helping provide childcare and spoiling my four grandchildren three days a week, as well as vegetable and flower gardening and leading our Folk Group at St. Luke Church in Fairfax. I also volunteer at Martha’s Community Kitchen every Tuesday and am a Hospice Volunteer for Franklin County Home Health Agency.

What’s something people may not know about you that you’d like to share?

I was interviewed for my position at St. Albans Hospital in the St. Albans’ Owl Club lounge!

What’s your dream vacation?

A cottage on a lake or the ocean with shade.

What historical figure would you like to have dinner with? And why?

Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She epitomized a love of our fellow humans that amazes me.

Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself?

I am very happily married to my wife, Kathy, since September 1979, who is the primary “Nana nanny” for our grandchildren since 2014. She is truly the woman behind the man in every sense of the word!

 

If you would like to become a volunteer or learn more about NMC’s Volunteer programs, please contact Katherine Winchester, Manager of Volunteer Services at 802-524-1055 or [email protected].