The Gift Garden gift shop at the Orange City Area Health System main campus was recently awarded the 2017 Retail Excellence Award by the Association for Healthcare Volunteer Resources Professionals (AHVRP). This award “recognizes a retail shop in a healthcare setting which has resulted in achieving exemplary results, and has demonstrated substantial benefit to the recipients, to the organization, the community, and to the volunteers providing the service.”
“The Gift Garden is a retreat for our patients and families, as well as the community,” said Mary Plathe, Volunteer Services Manager for Orange City Area Health System. “Many of our customers are just waiting for a loved one – so we invite them to stay as long as they like.”
The Gift Garden is staffed exclusively by volunteers, according to Plathe. “We are so fortunate to have more than 60 volunteers trained to work in our 525 square foot gift shop,” she reports. “The satisfaction, pride, and joy our volunteers receive from assisting customers is heartwarming.”
Plathe adds, “The Gift Garden is a blessing to the hospital and community, since all profits are gifted to Orange City Area Health System to benefit the patients and families served by the health system.” In the past 11 years, since the gift shop opened at the health system’s new campus, over $559,780 has been given to the health system, which has been used to purchase a variety of items including Hospice Educational Materials, Surgical Equipment, Lifeline Units, Whirlpool for Senior Care, Carpet for Mill Creek Clinic, Telemetry Equipment, Sofas for Landsmeer Ridge Retirement Community, Snow Removal Equipment, CT Scanner Updates, Ambulance Cot Covers, Meeting Room Furniture, Rocking Chairs for OB, New Phone System, OB Monitoring System, Employee Educational Assistance Funds, and sponsored capital campaigns for the new Hospital Main Campus and Prairie Ridge Care Center.