Delta, CO (April 11, 2019) – Just nine short years after Patrick Kennedy, son to John F. Kennedy and wife, Jackie, died just 39 hours after his birth; Stacy (Hall) Tindall was born with the same disease that took Patrick’s life. Hyaline membrane disease, now known as respiratory distress syndrome, was at that time the most common cause of death among premature infants in the United States, killing at that time an estimated 25,000 babies each year (New York Times, 2013).
Born two months early at St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado, Stacy was flown from the hospital accompanied by Dr. Jung, M.D.to the NICU department of University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City. “There were only 25 spots for babies with hyaline membrane, and she took the 25 th spot,” recalled Barbara Hall, Stacy’s mom. “I didn’t see her for almost five weeks.”
Barbara Hall, president of the volunteers at Delta Health (Delta Health), recalls the impact that a volunteer once had on her and her family during this troubling time. “There was a volunteer there (at University of Utah Hospital) that held her the most. [She] called herself, “Grandma Grace”. She lived close and went in two times a day and rocked and sang to her,” said Hall. “I know that her care kept Stacy growing normally and she could bond with her. It’s a marvelous thing to have a volunteer care like that and give their time.”
Stacy Tindall now lives and is a director of a childcare center in Delta, Colorado. “I think the care [Grandma Grace] gave her contributes to the kind person she is today,” states Hall. “It makes her one of my heroes.”
Likewise, Hall has been a volunteer most of her life. Growing up in Cedaredge, Colorado, she has known the importance of giving back and has been a volunteer for her church, local 4-H program, Vista Volunteers, Adopt a Grandparent Program, as a young lady would clean the elderly’s homes and a volunteer at Delta Health for almost eight years, “Some were more fun, but I can’t say they were more important.”
Barbara knows from personal experience the value a volunteer brings not only to an organization, but at times to the families, “It was personal to me. It is not always directly personal to everyone; but it is necessary.”
April is National Volunteer Month, and Delta Health would like to thank all of our volunteers for the countless hours and the immeasurable impact they have on our staff, patients, families and communities. In 2018, Delta Health volunteers gave over 14,000 hours to the hospital. Thank you.
Interested in volunteering? Call Delta Health today to find out more about how to become a Delta Health volunteer, and perhaps even change someone’s life.
“Volunteers are important. What they do for the hospital is important,” Barbara Hall.
