Doctor and Hospital Volunteer to Receive “Hearts of Gold” Awards

   Dr. Stephen Vogt        Beulah Herman

Internal medicine physician Dr. Stephen Vogt and hospital volunteer Beulah Herman have been named as the 2005 “Hearts of Gold” award winners by Providence Hood River Memorial Hospital. They were nominated and selected as people who, through their advocacy and action, have made a difference in our community’s health.

The two will be recognized at a special hors d’oeuvres buffet in their honor on Wednesday, September 14, 6:00 p.m. at the Best Western Hood River Inn. Tom Grant will provide musical entertainment for the event. Tickets are on sale for $25 per person through the Providence Hood River Foundation Office, 541-387-6474.

Dr. Vogt was nominated by several of his patients and their family members in the Healthcare Professional category. Each person wrote about the active compassion they felt from him. Jeniene and Aaron Moore were faced with her terminal cancer, and the fact she couldn’t deal with it. Aaron wrote, “Dr. Vogt felt very uncomfortable about just letting her walk away. One evening, after a long day at the hospital and office, he called and asked if he could come for a visit. He made the trip to our home in Mill A, Washington and provided Jeniene and me with much needed support and emotional care. I have been a patient in the hospital setting 80% of my life, from cystic fibrosis. NO doctor has ever gone out of his way like this before. I don’t know of many doctors who will take off their tie and become a friend to their patients as Steve has. This made my wife feel very honored and calm in the end of her life.” Similar comments came from another patient family. “During the last six months of my father’s life, he was in and out of the hospital…every time Dr. Vogt walked into my father’s room, he treated him as if he were his only patient. He never talked past my father or treated him as if he weren’t there. This may not seem like a big thing, but to my father, it made all the difference in the world. Dr. Vogt’s respect and compassion gave my father the greatest gift when he was at his most vulnerable; he gave him his dignity. For this, my family and I can not thank him enough,” wrote Elizabeth Settje.

Beulah Herman was nominated in the Community/Member category for her commitment to volunteerism. She has been an active community volunteer for decades, working in 4-H, at her church and sharing her garden bounty.  Fifteen years ago, she signed up as one of the hospital’s first volunteers, and she’s still going strong. From the reception desk to bake sales, to stuffing envelopes, she has worked in nearly every capacity as a volunteer. But Beulah has also made a difference in people’s lives through her gifts of flowers and stuffed animals. Each week for the last 15 years, she has brought fresh flowers from her garden to decorate patient and visitor areas throughout the hospital. During the winter, Beulah picked up leftover weekend flowers from Mt. Hood Railroad to add color and beauty to the lives of people who weren’t feeling well.

Beulah worked with Irene Best to provide stuffed animals to comfort the hospital’s youngest and oldest patients. When Irene retired, Beulah kept the program going. She found animals at yard sales, received them as donations from children and service clubs, all the while making sure each one was clean, with a fresh bow and ready to put a smile on the face of an emergency room or other hospital patient. According to fellow volunteer Shirley Ekker, “Beulah’s volunteer work ethic is what we all strive for. Her compassion for others, her mission to improve the health and well-being of all deserves our gratitude and thanks.”