The Auxiliary at North Arkansas Regional Medical Center (NARMC) has been holding their monthly meetings via Zoom since April 2020 because of COVID-19. At the May 11th meeting, the end of year financials were presented, Vince Leist, President and CEO and Sammie Cribbs, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Nursing Officer of NARMC spoke to the auxiliary and a resolution was passed to allow for the pervious years officers and committee chairperson to remain in their roles for one additional year because of the circumstances surrounding the pandemic. “I agreed to serve as president of the auxiliary because I believe in our hospital and the services they provide for our community and surrounding communities,” said Jerry Jones, Auxiliary President. “I also believe that the auxiliary provides a spirit of helping and giving of time and talents for supporting the hospital. With the effects of COVID-19, our membership has declined some, and one of my goals is to maintain our auxiliary numbers by adding new volunteers to our pool of dedicated members.”
The 2021-2022 NARMC Auxiliary officers are:
Jerry Jones – President.
Jerry served as a board member of local Farm Bureau. He served as president of the Dairy Herd Improvement Association, president of the Arkansas State Jersey Cattle Club and the main leader of 4-H Club. He served on the Boone County Sanctuary Board, helped process evacuees during Hurricane Katrina, served on the County Emergency Planning Board and was Vice President of the Arkansas Human Service Employees Association. He has coached Consolidated Youth Baseball and Basketball, Coached (Assistant) the Local Babe Ruth Baseball Team and served as PA voice of the Harrison Goblin Baseball team for four seasons.
Jones currently serves on the Boone County 4-H Foundation Board. At church, he has served as deacon, Sunday school teacher, board chairman, property chairman, worship committee and nominating committee. He currently serves as elder. He is in his 30th year of singing with the Chancel Choir.
Jerry has been a member of the NARMC Auxiliary for four years where he volunteers in Human Resources and has served as Vice-President of the NARMC Auxiliary for two years.
Carolyn Harp – Vice President. Carolyn is a former NARMC Hospice Board member and a current member NARMC Auxiliary. She joined the NARMC Auxiliary while still teaching school, probably in 2014, and volunteered by making gift baskets when she retired in 2017. In 2018, Carolyn began working in Nightingale’s Gift Shop one day a week. Carolyn serves as a Volunteer/Civic Involvement Volunteer, a 20 plus year member of FUMC Church. She is a member of GFWC 20th Century Club and has served as a member of the UMW as the chair. She is on the board of trustees and currently serves as a member of the nomination committee. She enjoys traveling, socializing, reading, Bible study and spending time with her grandchildren when not volunteering with the NARMC Auxiliary. Formerly worked at a newspaper (Times), a bank, as a realtor and a former member and president of Harrison Business and Professional Women Association.
Julie Lockett – Treasurer.
Julie began volunteering with NARMC by knitting booties, which she still does between all of the other projects she works on. She supervised the Basket Fundraising Project for the spring and the fall, creating over 570 baskets and generating a profit of $5,365 for the Auxiliary to use for scholarships, hospital equipment and community service projects. Julie comes in early and stays late many days to work on the baskets and is often found here on the weekends in the basket room. Over the past couple of years, she has helped make over 100 baskets for the Foundations annual gala. Furthermore, she volunteered as the Rehab Chairperson, working in that area one afternoon week, in addition to working in the Auxiliary Gift Shop two mornings a week, serving as time keeper for the Auxiliary and assisting with various mailings. Julie currently serves as the Chairperson for Nightingale’s Auxiliary Gift Shop.
April Bunch – Secretary.
Born in San Jose CA, April moved to AR in April of 1972. She graduated in 1979 from Forrest City, AR high school. Following high school, she completed of one year of Vocational Tech School with accounting and clerical certificates and began working for Social Security Administration. She started as a summer aide and retired 30+ years later as a Contact Representative in the SSI department. April worked 25 years of her career in the Forrest City, AR office and the last five years in Harrison AR office, after meeting the love of her life and best friend, Claude. They married in October of 2005. In 2006 they pulled up stakes and moved to Harrison, AR. She and her husband are members of Union Baptist Church. She has volunteered since retiring in June of 2011 with the exception of one 14 month period when she returned to work as a rehired annuitant. She served as auxiliary secretary for fiscal years 2012-2014, and has served as chairperson over surgical waiting room for two years, twice, and has been the Sunshine chairperson, and Publicity chairperson and presently elected again to be secretary. She volunteered at the ER volunteer desk, Thrift store, Surgery waiting, Tower volunteer desk and Nightingale’s Gift Shop, as well as special projects and health screenings. She currently volunteers in Nightingale’s Gift Shop. April says she enjoys volunteering for the opportunity to serve the public and NARMC’s employees.
About the Auxiliary
The Auxiliary logged a total of 13,313 volunteer hours during the fiscal year April 1, 2020 - March 31, 2021. NARMC has dozens of volunteers contributing thousands of hours each year. "Our volunteers are critical to the operation of our hospital and they can be seen at information desks, operating Nightingale's Gift Shop and the Auxiliary Thrift Store," said Robby Scucchi, Director of Branding, Guest and Volunteer Experience at NARMC. "In addition they work in various hospital departments, including Claude Parrish Cancer Center, surgery, hospice, purchasing, medical records and assist with various outreach events in the community of behalf of the medical center."
The auxiliary meets every 2nd Tuesday of the month at 1 p.m. via Zoom.
"We have a very dedicated group of volunteers that give tirelessly to the hospital and this community each and every day," said Scucchi. Every day we are privileged to see their smiling faces and giving spirit as they maneuver through the hospital to help make the guest experience a positive one."
If you have an interest in volunteering with NARMC or Hospice of the Hills, you are encouraged to contact Robby at robby.scucchi@narmc.com or 870-414-4622.
